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PLATFORM  AND  PULPIT  AIDS. 


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PLATFORM 


AND 


PULPIT    AIDS 


A.   C.   ARMSTRONG   AND   SON, 

714     BROADWAY. 
1886. 


PREFACE. 


While  the  demands  of  the  Christian  platform  are 
constantly  increasing,  and,  indeed,  almost  rival  those 
of  the  Christian  pulpit,  it  is  remarkable  that  help- 
ful books  for  speakers  are  exceedingly  rare.  The 
present  volume  is  an  attempt  to  supply  a  great 
and  obvious  blank.  It  contains  speeches  by  the 
most  eminent  Christian  orators  of  the  present  and 
recent  times,  and  a  selection  of  fresh,  pithy,  and 
sometimes  humorous  illustrations.  The  speeches 
are  taken  from  reports  in  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Chronicle,  the  Christian  World,  and 
other  journals,  local  allusions  being,  so  far  as 
possible,  omitted. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 


Prebendary  Ainslie,  i8o. 
Rev.  W.  Arthur,  165. 
Rev.  G.  S.  Barrett,  62. 

Bishop  of  Bedford,  169. 

Rev.  W.  Brock,  39. 
W.  S.    Caine,   Esq.,    M,P.,    178, 
186. 

Very  Rev.  The  Dean  of  Canter- 
bury, 46. 

Bishop  of  Carlisle,  130. 

Bishop  Boyd  Carpenter,  159,  164. 

Very  Rev.  Dean  Close,  132. 

Rev.  Vernon  J.  Charlesworth,  279. 

Very  Rev.  The  Dean  of  Chester, 
161. 

Rev.  J.  P.  Chown,  47,  125. 

Rev.  J.  Hunt  Cooke,  256. 

Rev.  J.  Culross,  D.D.,  131. 

Rev.  R.  W.  Dale,  D.D.,  43- 

Rev.  J.  C.  Edghill,  D.D.,  240. 

Rev.  Dr.  Edmond,  95. 

Very  Rev.  H.  T.  Edwards,  Dean 
of  Bangor,  219. 

Bishop  Ellicot,  D.D.,  S7- 

Rev.  E.  Herber  Evans,  16,  51, 168. 


Ven.  Archdeacon   Farrar,   D.D., 

F.R.S.,  188,  206,  228,  249. 
Rev.  Canon  Fleming,  172. 
Rev.  J.  Comper  Gray,  265. 
Rev.  Newman  Hall,  22. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Horsley,  182. 
Rev.  R.  H.  Howard,  269. 
Rev.  H.  Jones,  198. 
Dr.  Livingstone,  112. 
Bishop  of  London,  176. 
Rev.  J.  A.  Macfadyen,  D.D.,  117. 
Rev.  R.  Moffat,  D.D.,  107. 
SirW.  Muir,  K.C.S.I.,  114. 
Rev.  A.  Mursell,  30. 
Rev.  J.  Parker,  D.D.,  18,  25,  129. 
Rev.  W.  Morley  Punshon,  D.D., 

I,  100,  127,  139. 
Rev.  Principal  Rainy,  D.D.,  8. 
Rev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon,  71,  I49- 
Rev.  C.  A.  Stark,  272. 
Rev.  A.  Moody  Stuart,  D.D.,  82, 

122. 
Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Tait,  156. 
Rev.  Canon  Tristram,  7. 
Rev.  S.  Vincent,  260. 


I.  HOME  WORK. 
I.    The?  Power   of   the    Christian    Press.     By 

Dr.  W.   MORLEY  PUNSHON. 

I  REJOICE  in  the  operations  of  this  Society  because  it  affords 
one  of  those  opportunities  which  are  none  too  many  in  this 
age  of  ours,  that  tend  to  show  how  in  our  work  for  Christ 
all  Evangelical  Churches  have  a  substantial  unity  about 
them  which  is  the  unity  of  the  spirit  kept  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  I  rejoice  in  the  operations  of  the  Society,  moreover, 
because  it  is  a  sort  of  moral  telephone  that  makes  men 
heard  at  a  distance  from  those  to  whom  they  are  speaking, 
annihilating  all  distance,  and,  as  Winter  Hamilton  said, 
"  treading  continents  into  contiguities,  and  making  a  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  world."  I  rejoice  further,  because  it  beats 
the  telephone,  inasmuch  as  the  telephone  can  only  repro- 
duce the  living  voice  ;  but  by  the  operations  of  this  Society 
the  worthies  of  the  former  time,  being  dead,  yet  speak.  I 
rejoice,  too,  because  it  asserts  Christ's  right  to  reign  in  the 
realm  of  literature.  I  wish  it  all  success  in  its  battle  with 
impurity  and  evil  for  the  supremacy  of  the  literature  of 
the  world.  I  rejoice  again  because  it  seems  to  me  to  issue 
those  publications  which  are  exactly  suited  to  the  wants  of 
this  busy,  bustling  age.  I  am  afraid  that  the  remark  made 
has  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  it,  that  the  age  of  ponderous 
tomes  is  gone.  Men  want  something  sharp  and  incisive^ 
something  that  a  wayfaring  man  can  read  as  he  runs  ;  for 
running  seems  to  be  characteristic  of  the  fast  life  which 
now-a-days  most  of  us  have  to  lead.  It  seems  to  me  as 
though  there  were  an  exaggeration  in  the  love  of  sharpness, 
and  incisiveness,  and  earnestness,  which  is  rapidly  growing 
into  an  evil.  Earnestness,  especially,  is  the  God  of  this 
age's  reverence.  It  does  not  matter  what  a  man  may  be  ; 
earnestness,  like  charity,  is  made  to  cover  a  multitude  of 

B 


PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 


sins.  But  it  is  necessary  to  take  hold  of  this,  seeing  that 
it  exists,  and  endeavour  to  meet  the  popular  hunger  for 
something  short,  and  sharp,  and  decisive,  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  truth  in  a  compressed  yet  attractive  form.  I  fully 
coincided  in  a  remark  about  the  effects  which  in  former 
times  have  been  produced  by  these  short  treatises.  I 
thought  of  Peter  Waldo,  for  example  ;  how  he  set  to  work 
with  his  cargo  of  tracts  among  the  Piedmontese  valleys  ; 
and  how,  from  his  evangelical  and  tractarian  (in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  word)  labours,  there  sprang  those  Waldensian 
Churches  which,  through  thirty-five  persecutions,  held  fast 
the  pure  truth  of  Christ,  although  gashed  by  the  spear 
of  Savoy  and  scorched  by  the  fagot  of  Rome.  Then  I 
thought  of  John  Wycliffe,  the  grand  tract-writer  and  dis- 
tributor. And,  my  lord,  I  suppose  you  know  that  it  is  five 
hundred  years  this  very  year,  almost  this  very  month,  since 
he  was  summoned  by  Bishop  Courtenay  to  the  Convoca- 
tion at  St.  Paul's  when  good  John  of  Gaunt  stood  by  his 
side,  and  the  controversy  waxed  so  high  as  to  whether  he 
was  to  stand  or  sit  during  the  trial  that  the  assembly  broke 
up  in  disorder.  I  thought  of  John  Wyclifi"e  as  a  tract- 
writer  and  distributor,  and  I  saw  in  vision  one  of  his  tracts 
carried  in  the  pocket  of  a  Bohemian  nobleman  into  Bohemia, 
and  lent  by  him  to  a  man  whose  name  was  John  Huss, 
bringing  him  to  the  knowledge  of  the  purity  and  power  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Then  I  came  a  little  further 
down,  and  I  thought  how  the  early  champions  of  the  Reform- 
ation prized  this  form  of  usefulness  ;  and  how  Farrell,  the 
first  French  Reformer,  first  formed  a  Tract  Society  in  Basle, 
in  order  that  he  might  thus  gain  a  hold  upon  the  under- 
standings and  consciences  of  men.  And  then  I  thought  of 
Martin  Luther,  and  of  that  remarkable  incident  when,  in 
one  of  his  melancholy  moods,  he  thought  the  Author  of 
Evil  was  present  in  bodily  shape  when  he  was  confined  in 
Wurtemberg  Fortress,  and  how  he  vanquished  the  devil  by 
flinging  an  inkstand  at  his  head.  I  thought  of  the  power  of 
a  sanctified  inkstand  in  the  hand  of  such  a  man  as  that, 
and  although  Luther's  work  will  live  as  long  as  the  world 
lives,  and  although  some  of  his  greater  works  are  yet  in 
the  hands  of  students  who  know  how  to  praise  them,  yet  I 
remember  that  God  has  honoured  some  of  his  lighter  and 
similar  works  for  the  advancement  of  His  kingdom  in  the 


POWER  OF   THE  CHRISTIAN  PRESS.  3 

world.  Why,  he  wrote  about  the  most  uninteresting  thing 
that  could  be  written  in  all  the  world,  surely,  though  it  is  a 
necessary  sort  of  thing  ;  he  wrote  prefaces  to  a  great  many 
of  the  works  that  he  published  ;  he  wrote  a  preface  to  his 
comment  upon  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  that 
preface  found  its  way  to  the  heart  of  a  good  Bedfordshire 
tinker,  named  John  Bunyan.  And  he  wrote  a  preface  to 
his  comment  upon  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  it  was 
while  reading  that  preface  in  Aldersgate  Street  that  John 
Wesley  became  arrested.  By  the  way,  I  had  sent  me 
at  our  Wesleyan  Mission  House  last  week  a  translation 
of  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  into  Chinese,  with  illustrations. 
There  was  Christian,  and  Christiana,  and  Mercy,  and  the 
rest  all  represented  as  Chinamen  and  Chinawomen,  with 
the  customary  pigtails,  and  all.  Then  I  thought  again  of 
that  wonderful  and  bright  succession  which  is  noticed  in 
your  "  Jubilee  Memorial."  Here  I  rather  want  the  oppor- 
tunity of  saying  that  John  Wesley  was  a  zealous  tract- 
writer,  and  an  efficient  tract  distributor,  fifty  years  before 
the  Tract  Society  was  born.  Yet,  strangely  enough,  the 
"Jubilee  Memorial"  does  not  mention  his  name — please  in 
the  next  edition  to  put  it  in.  I  say  I  thought  how  an  old 
Puritan  doctor  wrote  a  book  years  and  years  ago  called 
the  "  Bruised  Reed,"  which  fell  just  at  the  right  time  into 
the  hands  of  Richard  Baxter,  and  brought  him  under  the 
influence  of  the  enlightening  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ; 
and  then  Baxter's  ministry  was  like  the  sun  in  his  strength, 
and  he  wrote  a  book  called  "  The  Call  to  the  Unconverted," 
which  continued  to  speak  long  after  Baxter  himself  had 
ceased  to  speak  with  human  tongue.  Th^t  "  Call  to  the 
Unconverted  "  went  preaching  on  until  it  got  into  the 
hands  of  Philip  Doddridge  (prepared  by  his  pious  mother's 
teaching)  from  the  Dutch  tiles  of  a  mantel-piece,  with  very 
quaint  Scriptural  stories  ;  and  it  was  the  means  of  enlight- 
ening him  to  a  broader  knowledge,  and  a  richer  faith,  and 
a  deeper  experience  of  the  things  of  God.  And  then  I 
thought  how  Doddridge  wrote  a  book  called  "  The  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul,"  which,  just  at  a 
critical  period  in  his  history,  fell  into  the  hands  of  William 
Wilberforce,  who  wrote  a  book  called  "  Practical  Christi- 
anity," which  far  down  in  the  sunny  Isle  of  Wight  fired 
the  heart  of  a  clergyman,  who  has  attained    perhaps    in 


PLATFORM  AIDS-HOME  WORK, 


connection  with  this  Society,  the  broadest  and  widest  repu- 
tation of  all — for  who  has  not  heard  of  Legh  Richmond  ? 
He  wrote  the  simple  annal  of  a  Methodist  girl,  and  pub- 
lished it  under  the  title  of  "The  Dairyman's  Daughter;" 
and  I  should  like  to  know  into  how  many  languages  that 
has  been  translated,  and  been  made  of  God  a  power  for  the 
spread  of  truth  ?  Thus  far  the  analogy  and  the  sequence 
of  the  "Jubilee  Memorial."  But  there  is  another  sequence. 
The  same  book  on  "  Practical  Christianity "  went  right 
down  into  a  secluded  parish  in  Scotland,  and  it  found  there 
a  young  clergyman  who  was  preaching  a  Gospel  that  he 
did  not  know,  and  it  instructed  him  in  the  way  of  God 
more  perfectly,  and  he  came  forth  a  champion  valiant  for 
the  truth  upon  the  earth  until  all  Scotland  rang  with  the 
eloquence  of  Thomas  Chalmers.  Look  at  it.  Not  a  flaw 
in  the  chain.  Richard  Sibbes,  Richard  Baxter,  Philip 
Doddridge,  William  Wilberforce,  Legh  Richmond,  Thomas 
Chalmers — is  not  that  apostolical  succession  }  Then  going 
abroad.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  are  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  the  facts  in  the  history  of  French 
Protestantism.  Admiral  Coligny  was  wounded  dangerously 
at  the  siege  of  St.  Ouentin,  and  during  the  tedium  of  a  long 
convalescence  his  brother  brought  him  some  tracts,  and  it 
was  by  tract-reading  that  he  was  made  acquainted  with 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  of  which  he  became  a  Huguenot 
champion.  Then  some  of  these  tracts  went  off  and  got 
somehow  or  other  into  a  convent,  where  the  Lady  Abbess 
was  converted  by  reading  one  of  them,  and,  that  so 
thoroughly,  that  she  had  to  flee  from  France  and  take 
refuge  at  Heidelberg,  in  the  Court  of  Frederick  HI.,  of  the 
Palatinate.  And,  by-and-by,  she  did  as  all  good  ladies 
do — she  married,  and  her  husband  was  Prince  William  of 
Orange.  Who  knows  how  .much  of  the  sturdy  glorious 
stubbornness,  so  to  speak,  of  William  of  Orange  of  the 
Revolution  came  from  the  blood  of  his  ancestress,  who  was 
thus  marvellously  converted  ?  Oh,  my  lord,  God  has 
various  ways  of  working!  "The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth  ;  we  hear  the  sound  thereof ;  we  cannot  tell  whence 
it  Cometh  or  whither  it  goeth  ;"  but  it  is  bearing  seed  upon 
its  wings,  and  lo  !  ripening  grain  there  where  sower  never 
trod,  and  lo !  waving  harvests  mgathered  where  plough 
was   never  driven.      The  bird    sometimes,   scared   by  the 


POWER  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  PRESS.  5 

tramp  of  feet,  or  by  the  hum  of  men,  drops  from  its  beak 
something  that  it  is  carrying  to  its  young  ;  the  seed  is 
lodged  in  the  fissures  of  a  wall,  but,  by-and-by,  the  in- 
herent life  becomes  stronger  than  the  incumbent  masonry, 
and  upon  the  ruins  of  a  dismantled  temple  a  noble  tree 
arises.  It  seems  to  me  the  need  is  just  as  great  as  it  ever 
was.  The  ark  of  God  was  never  carried  out  into  a  hotter 
battle — it  was  never  surrounded  by  fiercer  antagonism  than 
it  is  to-day.  And  these  still  small  voices  in  which  the 
Lord  has  so  often  revealed  His  presence  are  just  as  neces- 
sary for  the  peoples  to-day  as  in  any  former  age  of  the 
world.  And,  my  lord,  there  is  hunger  of  heart  for  them. 
We  have  not  to  complain  that  the  people  do  not  like  these 
things  ;  the  language  is,  "  Evermore  give  us  this  bread."  I 
wonder  that  anybody  should  be  so  foolish  as  to  try  to 
satisfy  hungry  people  by  anything  else  than  the  Gospel. 
Why  flourish  the  weapons  of  the  nursery  when  we  have  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hands  ?  I  do  believe  there 
never  was  more  than  at  the  present  time  a  growing  hunger 
for  this  Word  of  Life.  I  wish  it  were  as  true  of  us  now  as 
it  used  to  be  when  one  of  the  supporters  of  the  Romish 
Church  in  the  Reformation  period  said,  rather  growlingly, 
"  The  Gospellers  of  these  days  do  fill  the  realm  with  so 
many  of  their  noisome  little  books  that  they  be  like  swarms 
of  locusts  which  did  infest  the  land  of  Egypt."  I  do  not 
think  we  can  do  better  than  earn  that  reputation  now,  and 
therefore  it  is  that  I  wish  all  possible  success  and  blessing 
to  the  operations  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society.  Let  me 
say  one  word  upon  individual  duty  at  this  crisis.  We  want 
more  personal  service.  There  is  a  growing  tendency,  per- 
haps, in  some  quarters  to  condone  for  the  lack  of  personal 
service  by  the  willingness  to  direct;  or  to  criticise,  or  to 
subscribe,  as  if  a  coin — the  noblest  that  was  ever  minted 
with  the  image  of  its  Caesar — could  ever  be  an  equivalent 
for  a  living  man — a  man  with  a  soul,  a  conscience,  and  a 
will.  No  ;  we  want  the  Lord's  freemen  to  work  in  the 
Lord's  service ;  everything  around  us  seems  to  tell  us  of 
the  importance  of  this  sense  of  personal  responsibility. 
The  more  we  have  of  it  the  more  we  find  that  responsibility 
is  not  dependent  upon  the  riches  or  upon  the  poverty  of  a 
man's  moral  capital.  Some  men  are  royal  both  in  oppor- 
tunities and  in  resources  ;  to  other  men  chances  only  come 


PLATFORM  AIDS-HOME   WORK. 


seldom  of  successful  teaching  ;  but  it  is  demanded  of  all 
that  the  use  which  they  make  of  what  they  have  is  the 
wisest ;  just  as  the  life  of  an  animalcule  while  its  hour  lasts 
may  be  as  complete  and  as  busy  as  the  life  of  the  patriarch 
of  years  ;  and  just  as  the  circle  of  an  emmet's  eye  may  be 
as  perfect  as  the  circle  of  the  heavens.  And  we  look  to 
the  Master's  life  to  see  how  the  thought  of  responsibility 
to  His  Father  prompted  Him  to  the  most  perfect  conse- 
cration. Listen  as  in  the  glow  of  His  human  youth  He 
announces  His  separation  to  a  work  so  sacred  and  so 
constraining  as  to  be  above  the  claims  of  home.  *'  How 
is  it  that  ye  wist  not  that  I  must  be  about  My  Father's 
business .'' "  See  the  same  spirit  in  His  brief,  bright 
ministry,  burdening  His  manhood  with  a  yoke  which  His 
loving  oneness  with  the  Father  made  it  quite  easy  to  bear. 
Does  He  heal  the  man  that  was  born  blind  }  What  is  the 
motive  that  makes  the  healing  fly  with  swifter  wings  ?  "I 
must  zvork  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Me  ;  for  the  night 
Cometh  when  no  man  can  work."  Is  He  at  the  well's 
mouth  at  Sychar  ready  to  open  up  the  treasures  of  the 
upper  springs  to  His  half- educated  disciple  ?  How 
sublimely  His  purpose  towers  above  the  force  of  prejudice 
and  the  force  of  passion  }  ".My  meat  is  to  do  the  \\n\\  of 
Him  that  sent  Me,  and  to  finish  His  work."  Ay,  and  if 
we  pass  on  to  the  unquiet  eventide,  when,  instead  of  rest, 
weariness  and  fainting  came,  and  when  the  shadows  of  His 
passion  gathered  around  Him,  and  what  does  He  say  } 
He  says,  with  His  head  bowled  already  for  the  baptism  of 
blood,  yet  lifting  itself  for  the  moment  in  the  consciousness 
of  a  fulfilled  mission,  "  I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth, 
I  have  finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do." 
That  is  the  pattern  of  our  consecration.  We  are  to  live 
and  labour  after  His  measure.  Our  talents  are  to  be  laid 
out  for  Him,  and  so  laid  out  that  in  blessed  using  they 
shall  double  themselves  in  their  returns,  and  shall  bring  for 
His  blessed  service  the  gold  of  holy  character,  and  precious 
stones  gathered  out  of  the  w^orld's  dark  mine — by  our  hands 
— to  sparkle  in  the  Redeemer's  crown. 


CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 


II.  Christian    Literature.     By  Rev.  Canon 
Tristram. 

In  explaining  the  three-fold  reasons  which  bound  him  to 
the  Society,  said  :  "  He  felt  bound  to  it  as  a  missionary 
man,  as  a  scientific  man,  and  as  a  Churchman.  In  the  first 
place  as  a  missionary  man  he  was  especially  bound  to  the 
society.  He  could  not  conceive  how  it  would  be  possible 
for  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  with  which  he  was 
principally  connected,  to  carry  on  its  work  without  the  aid 
of  the  Bible  Society  and  its  interpreter,  the  Religious  Tract 
Society.  It  would  be  the  missionary  without  the  literature. 
To  send  their  missionaries  without  literature  would  be  like 
sending  workmen  without  tools,  soldiers  without  a  supply 
of  arms  ;  and  to  rely  upon  literature  without  the  living  voice 
of  the  preacher  would  be  to  send  the  arms  and  make  a  ship- 
ment of  the  military  stores,  but  to  leave  the  regiment  behind. 
They  must  have  a  living  voice  as  well  as  a  written  word. 
But  there  were  places  where  the  silent  preacher  could  enter, 
where  the  ear  was  adder-deaf  to  the  voice  of  the  living 
preacher,  and  that  was  the  work  of  this  Society  at  home 
and  abroad.  Book-hawking  and  colportage  had  done  a 
mighty  work,  and  were  still  doing  it,  especially  in  those 
countries  where  the  living  voice  cannot  be  uplifted.  The 
work  of  the  Society  almost  ranged  from  Pole  to  Pole,  and 
it  had  one  message  everywhere.  He  was  bound  to  the 
Society  as  a  scientific  man.  He  remembered  hearing  Dr. 
Arnold  uttering  a  favourite  saying  of  his,  that  what  they 
wanted  was  not  so  much  religious  books  as  books  on 
secular  subjects  written  in  a  religious  tone.  He  (Canon 
Tristram)  was  of  opinion  that  they  wanted  both,  and  he 
was  bound  to  say  that  the  Tract  Society  had  solved  the 
problem  of  supplying  secular  literature  with  a  religious 
tone.  It  was  a  different  thing  to  avow  one's  belief  in  the 
Word  of  God  among  scientific  sceptics,  from  what  it  was  to 
speak  before  a  sympathetic  audience  at  Exeter  Hall.  By 
such  publications  the  world  is  able  to  see  that  men  can 
grasp  science  without  losing  the  grand  old  truth.  The 
third  reason  why  he  was  bound  to  the  Society  was  because 
he  was  a  Churchman,  for  it  was  the  grandest  Church 
society  in  England.  He  w^ould  tell  them  why.  It  saved 
him  much  trouble.     He  never  dreamt  of  reading  a  tract 


PLA  TFORM  AIDS-HOME   WORK. 


with  the  imprimatur  of  the  Tract  Society  upon  it — that 
was  to  say,  he  never  read  it  to  see  whether  it  was  fit  to 
give  away.  He  had  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  Society, 
and  its  imprimatur  was  enough.  There  were  other  societies, 
but  he  would  not  circulate  one  of  their  books  without 
looking  it  through  beforehand.  They  heard  a  good  deal 
in  their  days  about  unsectarian  teaching.  They  were 
all  agreed  on  one  thing,  that  Bible  reading  without  Bible 
teaching  was  an  utter  farce.  While  they  did  not  want  to  be 
sectarian  it  was  impossible  to  teach  truth  and  Christianity 
to  the  youngest  as  well  as  the  oldest  without  being  dogmatic. 
He  liked  every  one  of  the  books  and  tracts  of  this  Society 
because  they  were  saturated  with  dogmatic  teaching. 
There  was  no  sectarianism  in  any  one  of  them,  but  they 
were  thoroughly  dogmatic.  If  he  wanted  to  teach  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  prove  anything 
Protestant,  Evangelical,  and  sound,  he  should  go  to  the 
Religious  Tract  Society's  works.  He  was  sure  he  would 
find  no  mistaking  of  the  emotional  for  the  devotional.  He 
would  find  no  substitution  of  sensationalism,  whether  that 
sensationalism  took  the  form  of  spiritual  emotion  or  sensa- 
tional services.  In  fact  he  would  find  every  need  of  a 
parochial  minister  and  Cathedral  minister  supplied  by  the 
works  of  this  Society.  Their  churches  were  multiplying  in 
the  land  ;  everywhere  they  were  rising,  and  they  thanked 
God  for  it.  These  churches  and  chapels  were  as  so 
many  stationary  lamp-posts,  giving  a  bright  light  on  one 
side  of  the  road  ;  but  only  let  the  books  and  tracts  get 
into  the  home,  and  each  traveller  would  be  carrying  the 
lamp  for  himself,  which  would  guide  him  in  his  right  path." 
Canon  Tristram  concluded  by  quoting  the  words  of  a  grand 
old  bishop  who,  while  defending  the  Episcopacy,  said,  "  '  If 
there  must  be  outward  difference  and  judgment  in  matters 
of  outward  policy,  why  should  not  our  hearts  be  still 
one.?'" 

III.    The   Aggressive  Work  of  the   Church.     By 

Rev.  Principal  Rainy. 

It  was  a  very  great  privilege  to  take  part  in  this  great  and 
pressing  subject  ;  but  though  he  had  a  sincere  and  warm 
interest  in  the  aggressive  work  of  the  Church,  there  were  a 


AGGRESSIVE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH.  9 

great  many  who  had  won  greater  distinction  and  success 
in  that  work  than  any  he  could  pretend  to  have,  and  who 
could  have  spoken  with  far  more  power  and  instruction  to 
them  upon  it.  He  was,  however,  glad  to  speak  upon  this 
subject,  and  no  subject  was  better  entitled  to  the  best 
thoughts  and  efforts  of  any.  One  thing  that  suggested 
itself  to  him  was  that  this  was  a  work  in  which  they  often 
met  with  difficulties.  There  were  difficulties  in  it  that 
sometimes  seemed  to  prove  themselves  to  be  insuperable. 
It  was  quite  certain  that  we  cannot  of  our  own  hand  or  by 
our  own  strength  turn  failure  into  success.  We  cannot 
bargain  that  for  so  much  pains  we  shall  have  so  much 
success,  and  yet  in  this  work,  he  believed,  ordinarily,  we 
should  count  that  when  difficulties  are  felt  to  be  great  they 
are  not  meant  to  bring  our  work  or  our  expectation  to  an 
end,  but  to  set  us  to  find  out  the  reasons  why  we  do  not 
succeed.  Sometimes,  no  doubt  not  unfrequently,  it  seemed 
of  some  of  the  most  honoured  agents  that  they  were  as  the 
key  which  made  the  bolts  fly  back  whereby  a  great  door 
and  effectual  was  opened.  But  there  were  those  who  really 
wanted  to  do  work  in  this  matter,  but  who  felt  they  were 
going  round  and  round  some  impalpable  wall,  which  they 
could  not  get  through.  There  were  ministers  and  congre- 
gations who  had  around  them  a  population  needing  an  ag- 
gressive work,  and  they  would  like  to  do  something  in  it, 
and  they  have  tried  it  and  nothing  seems  to  be  coming  of  it. 
But  in  this  matter  there  were  various  ways  of  dealing  with 
difficulties.  There  was  a  way  of  dealing  with  difficulty  in 
which  a  man  gives  up  and  says  "  I  have  tried  and  I  have  made 
nothing  of  it,"  and  he  consents  to  be  discouraged.  There  was 
another  way — and  he  did  not  know  if  it  were  much  better 
— in  which  the  effort  is  not  in  a  certain  sense  thrown  up. 
The  man  and  the  congregation  keep  pegging  away  year 
after  year.  They  are  doing  not  less  than  they  were  doing 
before,  but  not  apparently  with  any  more  earnestness  or 
intensity  or  agonising  of  mind  or  heart  about  it.  They 
just  hope  on,  and  go  on  in  a  certain  cheerful  temper  with- 
out any  particular  fruit  at  all.  But  he  rather  thought  that 
if  success  is  being  prepared  for  any  of  us  in  connection 
with  difficulties  it  \s  when  these  difficulties  throw  us  back 
in  the  line  that  is  indicated  by  our  Lord  when  He  said 
that  there  were  some  spirits  that  do  not  go  out  except  by 


PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 


fasting  and  by  prayer.  When  people  are  thrown  back  and 
find  out,  as  they  had  not  found  out,  and  as  it  was  not  easy 
for  flesh  and  blood  to  find  out,  what  was  the  meaning  of 
that  word  referred  to  by  the  first  speaker,  *'  I  believe  in 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  it  might  be  a  necessary  education  for  us, 
with  a  view  to  our  success,  to  be  sent  down  into  a  vale  of 
humiliation  to  learn  in  a  very  special  and  new  manner 
what  it  was  to  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  With  reference 
to  the  work  and  the  call  to  which  Christ  set  His  Church,  it 
was  no  light  matter  for  our  Lord  Himself,  and  it  was  not 
intended  to  be  always  a  light  matter  for  His  servants 
either.  The  name  *'  aggressive  work  "  we  owed  very  much 
to  Dr.  Chalmers.  One  of  his  distinctions — he  had  a  great 
deal  to  do  in  setting  on  the  Church  in  Scotland  to  realize 
the  duty  in  this  department — was  the  distinction  between 
aggressive  work  and  attractive  work.  We  were  not  to  be 
satisfied  with  hoping  that  the  people  would  be  drawn  to 
us,  but  go  forth  and  strike  out  among  them  ;  go  forth  in 
the  way  of  aggression — Christian  aggression.  Now,  the 
methods  which  Dr.  Chalmers  suggested  and  practised  in 
the  way  of  aggression  were  very  much  on  the  lines  of  what 
we  might  call  ordinary  and  even  pastoral  assiduities — 
diligent  visiting,  not  by  the  minister  only,  but  by  visitors, 
who  went  forth  bearing  the  message  of  salvation— seeking 
to  gather  people  into  the  congregations,  where  they  might 
be  under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel — faithful  preaching  ; 
hold  meetings,  kitchen  meetings,  all  sorts  of  meetings. 
That,  unquestionably,  must  be  a  great  part — he  would  say 
a  fundamental  kind  of  work  if  we  were  to  have  steady 
continual,  progressive  aggression  in  this  great  field.  He 
was  going  to  say  that,  in  connection«with  the  experiments 
that  were  made,  and  had  been  made  both  in  this  country 
and  in  America,  various  modifications  of  aggressive  work — 
evangelistic  work — had  been  suggested,  and  we  were  all 
therefore  familiar,  and  in  many  respects  happily  familiar, 
with  trains  of  meetings,  the  power  of  which  both  to  draw 
people  together  and  the  fitness  of  them  to  operate  upon 
the  people  when  they  came,  was  connected  with  a  peculiar 
character  imparted  to  the  whole  aspect  and  character  of 
the  meeting.  Evangelistic  meeting,  in  which  everything 
was  concentrated  on  the  work  of  awakening  and  conver- 
sion,  in    which   the    reiterated    solicitudes,  the   continued 


AGGRESSIVE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH,  ii 

meeting  after  meeting,  and  the  reiteration  and  pleading 
went  on,  and  the  impression  was  more  and  more  strongly 
made  that  the  meeting  and  those  who  were  conducting  it 
meant  business,  that  they  were  aiming  at  something,  that 
they  were  aiming  at  bringing  persons  presently  to  Christ, 
was  a  kind  of  work  which  was  unquestionably  abused, 
that  was  to  say  it  was  conducted  in  such  a  way  that  it 
fell  into  ruts,  and  people  were  carrying  it  on  in  a  kind 
of  imitative  way  that  was  just  a  harping  on  strings  that 
were  worn  out,  but  which  we  knew — and  had  specimens 
of  it  of  a  very  impressive  kind — could  be  made  in  fit 
hands  singularly  effective  and  singularly  impressive. 
Speaking  of  Mr.  Moody,  it  appeared  to  him  that  his 
power  to  draw,  and  to  make  his  way  to  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men  apart  from  his  great  natural  capacity — 
for  Mr.  Moody,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  a  singularly 
able  man,  a  man  who  had  natural  ability^  which  must  not 
be  underrated — lay  in  that  gift  of  faith  which  seemed  to 
be  given  to  him,  in  virtue  of  which  there  was  always  an 
impression — if  he  might  use  an  expression  of  that  kind — 
that  he  meant  business,  that  he  was  aiming  at  something, 
and  that  the  something  he  aimed  at  was  not  shallow  or 
superficial,  not  a  mere  fit  of  excitement,  but  was  nothing 
less  than  repentance  and  conversion  to  God — worthily 
conceived  and  earnestly  enforced.  He  was  convinced  that 
this  kind  of  agency  had  an  important  place,  and  also  there 
were  sections  of  the  population  which  would  seem  some- 
times to  be — probably  always  to  be — in  a  condition  in 
which  work  of  this  kind  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  make  an 
impression,  to  bring  them  within  the  range  of  the  activities 
that  are  going  on,  as  well  as  fitted  to  make  an  impression 
of  a  favourable  kind  when  people  were  got  to  come  to  the 
meeting.  Work  of  that  kind  had  been  going  on,  and  very 
usefully  and  profitably  going  on,  in  a  manner  we  might 
describe  in  a  general  way  as  outside  the  Churches — outside 
the  denomination.  But  he  would  like  to  put  this  question 
whether  there  ought  not  to  be  more  of  effort  to  connect 
this  work  with  their  congregations,  with  their  Churches, 
and  with  their  Church  life,  where  it  could  be  fitly  and 
fruitfully  carried  on.  It  might  be  that  an  individual  con- 
gregation could  not  supply  all  the  materials  that  were 
necessary  for  carrying  on    work   of  this    kind    in   all   its 


PLATFORM  AIDS -HOME  WORK. 


branches,  sustaining-  it  for  a  time  with  the  energy  and 
multiplicity  of  operation  that  were  required,  but  the  agency 
of  a  number  of  congregations  might  be  turned  on  for  a 
time  in  connection  with  one  congregation  which  was 
situated  in  the  midst  of  a  district  like  that,  and  that  per- 
haps had  been  in  a  discouraged  and  mouldering  condition, 
in  the  midst  of  a  population  that  greatly  required  Christian 
work.  He  knew  that  in  one  congregation  this  operation 
had  been  carried  on  with  very  marked  and  very  hopeful 
success.  The  people  had  been  drawn  to  meetings  in  the 
church — all  this  mission  work  had  been  going  on  in  the 
church — they  had  been  impressed,  they  had  been  awakened, 
many  of  them,  by  God's  grace,  had  been  converted  in  that 
church,  and  then  the  church  became  their  religious  home, 
the  place  where  they  were  to  be  instructed  and  built  up, 
where  they  were  to  be  under  discipline,  where  they  were 
to  be  under  Christian  congregation,  and  instead  of  being 
lost  in  a  sort  of  haze  there,  they  were  taken  in  hand  and 
placed  under  an  energetic  ministry.  He  thought  that  was 
a  matter  that  well  deserved  their  consideration.  Another 
matter  that  he  wanted  to  refer  to  was  this — what  was 
necessary  in  order  that  evangelistic  work,  on  whatever  lines 
it  was  to  go  and  in  connection  with  whatever  view  of  the 
agencies  it  was  to  be  carried  on,  might  be  vigorous  and 
effective.  Now,  in  order  to  this,  we  needed  to  have  the 
congregational  life  of  our  congregations  roused  and 
strengthened  ;  we  needed  all  of  us  to  be  brought  to  a 
higher  conception  of  what  devolved  upon  each  of  us  as 
Christians.  There  was  a  text  which  said  that  "  to  every 
one  was  given  his  work."  Now,  it  was  quite  true  that 
we  were  not  all  of  us  qualified  to  engage  in  exhortation. 
There  was  a  great  variety  of  works,  benevolent,  kindly, 
and  helpful,  in  various  degrees  in  which  people,  according 
to  their  different  gifts,  might  be  engaged.  It  would  be  a 
great  thing  if,  in  our  congregations  and  in  this  aggressive 
work,  the  members,  according  to  their  gifts,  greater  or 
smaller,  whether  their  work  should  bear  more  directly  or 
less  directly  on  the  precise  point  of  instructing  people  in 
godliness  and  bringing  them  into  Christ — if  they  were  in 
connection  with  Church  life  and  Church  work,  and  under- 
stood to  be  in  the  Church's  service,  so  that  whatever  they 
were  doing  should  have  the  stamp  upon  it,  "  Whatsoever 


AGGRESSIVE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH.  13 

I  do  in  word  or  deed,  I  do  it  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  We  might  not  be  qualified  some  of  us  to 
go  so  directly  to  the  main  operations  of  evangelistic  work, 
although  very  likely  if  we  began  we  should  find  that 
aptitudes  were  produced  or  revealed  that  were  not  suspected 
at  first,  but  if  we  were  found  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
Church,  doing  what  we  could  do,  whether  it  was  greater  or 
smaller,  in  the  service  of  Christ,  and  with  the  view  of  help- 
ing on  the  work,  then  what  we  did  would  have  the  character 
of  Christian  work  ;  it  would  be  done  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  we  should  be  all  of  us  combining  and  conspiring  to 
carry  on  the  great  work  together.  He  heard  the  other  day 
of  a  meeting  at  which  a  man  appeared  who  was  not  sober 
and  was  giving  some  trouble,  and  they  were  getting  him 
disposed  of  when  a  person  came  and  said,  "  If  you  please, 
I  am  a  very  young  Christian,  and  I  am  not  able  to  do 
much  for  Christ,  but  I  could  see  that  man  home."  The 
drunken  man  was  put  in  this  person's  charge,  and  he  saw 
him  home,  but  he  was  not  content  with  seeing  him  home. 
He  had  stuck  to  him  ever  since,  and  had  not  let  him  go, 
and  he  was  at  him,  the  speaker  believed,  at  this  time,  and 
what  one  hoped  was  that  the  result  would  be  for  great 
good  to  both  of  them.  He  merely  produced  that  as  an 
illustration  of  the  importance  of  their  being  regimented 
and  embodied  in  the  service.  If  that  was  to  be  the  case, 
it  must  depend  very  much  on  their  ministers  and  leading 
office-bearers  devoting  attention  to  providing  work,  open- 
ing channels  of  work,  and  having  work  ready  in  the  various 
departments  for  the  people  that  were  willing  to  work. 
There  were  a  great  many  people,  especially  in  the  opening 
stages  of  their  Christian  life,  that  would  like  to  get  some 
work  if  they  saw  anything  that  they  really  felt  they  could 
usefully  do,  and  it  was  a  wrong  to  Christ's  cause  and  to 
such  people  if  the  members  of  their  Churches  did  not 
somehow  contrive  to  get  into  connection  with  them  and 
to  confer  with  them  as  to  what  they  could  give  them  to 
do,  and  what  they  would  be  willing  to  do  for  the  Church. 
Another  view  in  connection  with  this  that  he  would  like  to 
suggest  was,  that  if  this  aggressive  work  was  to  go  pros- 
perously on,  there  would  in  a  larger  degree  be  needed  the 
operation  and  activity  of  all  really  earnest  people  who 
were  willing  to  do  anything  in  the  work.     Probably  it  was 


14  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

true,  with  all  the  good  that  had  been  doing — and  they 
were  not  to  undervalue  it — that  the  methods  were  still 
often  too  wholesale,  and  that  there  ought  to  be  more 
detail — more  detailed  care  and  more  detailed  work  than 
we  have  been  able  as  yet  to  organize.  He  supposed — and 
he  spoke  under  correction  of  those  that  knew  better  and 
had  more  experience — that  if  they  had  in  hand  the  effort 
to  reclaim  a  drunkard  who  was  in  a  state  that  was  not 
unhopeful,  and  yet  was  not  delivered  from  vice  and  sin,  it 
would  be  a  great  thing  if  they  could  just  put  on  to  him 
some  one  person,  and  make  it  that  one  person's  one  busi- 
ness first  to  look  after  that  one  man — to  be  kind  to  him,  to 
be  patient  with  him,  to  be  attentive  to  him,  to  be  helpful 
to  him,  and  to  try  to  do  him  good.  There  were  many 
cases  in  which  something  of  the  same  principle  might  be 
desirable  to  be  carried  out ;  and  when  a  certain  class  was 
come  to  of  those  who  did  not  attend  ordinances — he  meant 
that  rather  better  class  who  did  not  choose  to  be  dealt  with 
in  the  wholesale  way,  and  did  not  choose  to  be  visited  and 
dealt  with  in  the  same  way  as  another  class  of  people  were 
willing  to  be  dealt  with — he  did  not  know  how  they  were 
to  be  reached  individually,  unless  it  were  contrived  to  sort 
them  out  one  by  one,  and  to  find  out  individual  people 
that  would  get  at  them  in  a  quieter  and  more  indirect  way, 
and  endeavour  to  get  hold  of  and  influence  them  one  by 
one  and  man  by  man.  On  all  these  and  on  other  grounds, 
he  was  convinced  that  it  was  of  great  importance  that 
there  should  be  realized  all  over  the  congregations  of  the 
Church  a  livelier  sense  of  personal  responsibility  and  more 
of  a  willingness  to  be  personally  employed — to  have  it 
understood  that  we  were  willing  to  be  personally  employed 
whether  in  the  more  conspicuous  or  in  the  more  humble 
and  unconspicuous  walks  that  belonged  to  this  whole  work 
in  general.  Unquestionably  if  we  were  to  have  success 
granted  to  us,  that  success  would  come  in  connection  with 
those  who  engaged  in  the  work — not  merely  their  mis- 
sionaries whom  they  hired,  and  sent  into  the  field,  and 
whom  they  expected  to  be  prayerful,  earnest,  devoted  men  ; 
not  merely  their  ministers,  in  whom  they  hoped  for  the 
same  qualities ;  not  merely  even  their  elders  that  had  a 
turn  for  missionary  work  ;  but  when  those  who  engaged  in 
this  work  and  who  sought  to  urge  it  on  and  whose  desires 


AGGRESSIVE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH.  15 

were  supposed  to  be  expressed  in  the  work  were  persons 
who  were  really  growing  in  fidelity  and  in  love,  who  were 
realizing  what  it  was  to  be  converted,  what  it  was  to  be 
delivered  from  worldliness  and  sin,  what  it  was  to  be 
raised  from  a  low  type  of  Christian  living  that  was  on  the 
borders  of  something  else,  and  seeking  to  realize  what  it 
was  to  follow  the  Lord  fully.  Christianity  was  meant  to 
exist  and  to  signalise  its  triumphs  in  connection  with  the 
walks  and  exercises  and  disciplines,  and  the  ups  as  well  as 
the  downs  of  this  life  on  earth.  It  was  meant  to  be  the 
Christianity  triumphant,  and  signal  of  men  of  business  and 
of  men  of  fortune,  as  well  as  of  poor  men  and  of  men  in 
the  lower  walks  of  life,  and  there  was  a  tribute  to  Chris- 
tianity that  was  paid  when  a  man  who  was  in  business, 
and  successful  in  business,  was  manifestly  fervent  in  spirit 
serving  the  Lord.  But  for  all  that,  the  men  who  were 
really  to  gain  the  ear  and  heart  of  those  who  were  outside 
for  Christ,  must  be  men  who  had  begun  to  learn,  and  were 
going  on  more  and  more  to  learn,  the  unworldliness  of 
Christ  and  of  Christianity.  There  would  not  be  success 
in  this  work  if  those  belonging  to  the  Church  were  to  keep 
all  their  idols  in  their  heart,  if  they  were  going  to  be  mainly 
taken  up  about  success  in  the  world,  about  being  rich, 
about  social  success  and  precedency,  and  about  the  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  recreations  that  were  in  the  world.  There 
was  a  right  use  of  these,  but  still  the  spirit  that  was  to 
succeed  was  the  spirit  that  divorced  itself  in  Christ's  name 
and  for  Christ's  sake  from  the  idolatry  of  these  things,  the 
spirit  of  those  who  were  learning  in  the  school  of  Christ. 
"One  thing  I  do;  I  am  here  in  this  world,  no  doubt,  to  be 
diligent  in  business  among  other  things,  but  I  am  here  a 
man  to  live  a  short  life  for  a  few  years,  and  the  main  thing 
is,  for  myself,  that  I  have  the  Kingdom  of  God  within  me 
— and  there  is  nothing  else  to  compare  with  that — and,  for 
others,  that  I  may  bring  men  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
and  set  forward  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  world."  It 
was  not  enough  that  we  should  do  what  he  was  doing  just 
now — speaking  about  it  according  to  the  best  gift  of  speech 
he  had  ;  it  was  all  right  we  should  talk  about  it,  but  we 
should  believe  it,  and  see  that  it  was  really  a  moving  life 
and  power  in  ourselves,  that  we  were  ourselves  under  the 
influence  of  the  gospel  and  becoming  unworldly  men  and 


1 6  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

women,  and  that  a  larger  place  in  our  hearts  was  being 
got,  and  our  hearts  were  becoming  more  sore  and  anxious 
about  those  poor  men  and  women  who  were  out  in  the 
dark  and  cold,  against  whom  life  was  going  hard,  or  who 
perhaps  were  not  finding  life  going  so  hard  against  them 
but  who,  under  the  influence  of  a  tolerable  worldly  pros- 
perity, were  living  for  this  world,  and  forgetting  that  there 
was  or  thinking  that  there  was  not  any  other  world.  It 
was  in  connection  with  our  learning  the  mind  of  Christ,  the 
great  missionary,  and  of  those  apostles  that  followed  Him 
— it  was  in  our  coming  to  the  unworldliness  of  spirit,  no 
doubt,  that  we  should  be  qualified  and  prepared  for  any 
honourable  success.  That  was  not  exactly  easy  in  this 
age  of  the  world.  In  the  experience  of  the  way  in  which 
this  world  was  plying  its  mighty  engines  on  us  all  ;  the 
noise  it  was  making  around  us,  the  way  in  which  it  held 
up  to  us  on  every  side  the  splendour  of  its  manifold 
achievements  and  drew  us,  in  every  day's  news  and  news- 
papers in  every  day's  recreation,  and  in  every  day's  busi- 
ness excitement,  to  fall  down  at  its  feet  and  worship  it, 
and  to  give  ourselves  up,  hands  and  feet  bound,  to  its 
influence  and  to  its  passions,  it  was  not  easy. 


IV.     Popery.     By  Rev.  E.  Herber  Evans. 

John  Bright  once  said  that  there  was  one  thing  almost  as 
strong  as  truth  itself,  and  that  was  persecuted  error.  We 
have  learned  in  Wales  that  the  right  way  is  not  to  persecute 
the  error,  but  to  preach  the  truth.  The  Roman  Catholics 
carry  on  business  in  their  own  way.  They  are  using  their 
horns.  I  am  reminded  by  this  of  an  old  Welsh  minister,  who 
told  us  the  other  day  that  going  through  the  Valeof  Clwyd 
he  met  a  farmer  who  had  hundreds  of  sheep  in  the  vale 
while  others  w^ere  grazing  on  the  mountains.  The  minister 
asked  the  farmer,  "What  is  the  difference  between  the  sheep 
which  you  keep  down  here  in  the  vale  and  those  on  the 
mountains  1 "  "  Oh  !  "  he  said,  "  the  sheep  that  graze  down 
in  the  vale  are  those  that  give  you  the  best  meat ;  but  those 
that  graze  on  the  mountains  always  have  the  best  horns." 
Now,  we  feel  that  when  men  are  too  ready  to  use  their 
horns,  they  live  on  poor  grass.     We  in   Wales  have  con- 


POPERY.  17 


quered  Popery  by  preaching  the  Gospel,  reading  the  Bible, 
and  by  means  of  our  Sunday-schools.  It  is  quite  fair  that 
if  we  in  Wales  find  the  men,  you  should  find  the  means  to 
send  them  forth.  Are  we  to  tell  them  that  for  want  of 
funds  we  cannot  send  them  forth  ?  No ;  that  would  be 
a  shame  to  us,  and  by  so  doing  we  would  do  wrong  to  the 
young  men.  We  will  do  something  to  lift  up  those  poor 
benighted  people  in  Brittany,  and  free  them  from  the  yoke 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood,  and  make  men  of  them. 
The  rev.  gentleman,  as  a  proof  of  what  even  one  man 
could  do,  related  the  wonderful  success,  of  which  he  had 
been  witness,  of  Mr.  McAll's  labours  in  Paris ;  and  he 
was  glad  to  say  that  Mr.  McAU  had  a  splendid  helper  in 
his  wife,  who  had  as  great  an  interest  as  her  husband  in 
the  work.  In  the  report  he  found  the  question,  "  Is  a  better 
religion  to  be  found?"  He  contended  that  there  was 
not  a  better  religion  to  be  found  to  teach  contentment  and 
sobriety,  and  to  teach  people  to  be  quiet,  because  there 
was  something  to  hope  for  better  and  further  on.  At  the 
present  day  in  every  country  in  Europe  the  working  people 
were  being  led  more  and  more  into  scepticism,  and  one 
great  thinker  had  said  that  he  believed  the  scientific  scep- 
ticism at  the  top  of  society,  and  the  unbelief  at  the 
bottom  of  society,  were  the  two  things  that  were  yet  to 
crush  Popery  throughout  Europe,  and  that  infidelity  was 
to  crush  superstition.  He  did  not  know  whether  that 
was  true  or  not,  but  he  hoped  that  the  Society  would 
Christianize  and  evangelize,  and  that  every  one  would 
do  his  best  by  the  influence  he  exerted  in  his  own 
circle.  The  rev.  gentleman  continued  :  We  are  told  that 
there  is  an  animal  in  every  man  and  an  animal  in  every 
nation — the  tiger  in  one,  the  lion  in  another,  the  panther 
in  another  ;  and  whenever  the  animal  becomes  the  most  in 
a  rage,  it  is  "  a  reign  of  terror."  Now  this  Society's  object 
is  to  bring  out  the  spiritual  in  every  man  ;  and  it  is  a  gain 
to  every  nation  and  every  people  if  we  can  only  win  one 
man  and  evangelize  him,  and  get  him  to  believe  this  Gospel, 
which  makes  happy  homes  and  peaceful  hearths,  simply 
because  we  teach  them  something  further  on.  A  poor  man 
in  South  Africa  once  met  Dr.  Moffat  with  a  pitiful  face. 
Dr.  Moffat  asked  him  what  was  the  matter,  and  he  replied, 
*'  My  dog  has  swallowed  three  leaves  of  the  New  Testa- 

C 


PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  'WORK. 


ment."  "Why  should  you  cry  over  that?"  asked  Dr. 
Moffat.  The  man  replied,  "  It  will  spoil  the  dog  ;  he  was 
a  capital  hunter,  and  it  will  make  him  tame  now,  the  same 
as  it  makes  all  the  people  tame  round  here.  It  will  spoil 
him  as  a  hunter."  There's  some  philosophy  in  that.  The 
man  had  seen  the  effect  of  the  Gospel  all  round  him — that 
it  made  the  people  quiet  and  contented,  and  he  was  afraid 
it  would  have  the  same  effect  on  the  dog.  We  have  all 
seen  the  effect  of  the  Gospel  on  people  under  sorrow  and 
trial.  I  have  seen  it  myself.  I  have  preached  occasion- 
ally in  the  workhouse  in  Carnarvon,  half  a  mile  from  town  : 
and  friends  in  the  neighbourhood  came  in  to  join  in  the 
service,  and  I  have  been  delighted  to  see  them  singing 
out  of  the  same  hymn-book  of  the  same  Jesus  and  His  love, 
singing  about  the  same  fountain  that  cleanses  the  one  like 
the  other,  about  the  same  home  that  will  welcome  the  in- 
mate of  the  poor  house  as  well  as  the  inmate  of  the  richest 
mansion  outside.  Look  at  the  poor  man  whose  face  has 
been  furrowed  by  the  storms  of  life.  I  gave  out  a  Welsh 
hymn,  which  conveyed  the  idea  that  he  is  a  child  of  God, 
that  he  is  not  of  age,  but  that  his  inheritance  is  coming. 
Look  how  it  affects  him  !  He  realizes  that  there  is  to  be 
for  him — a  poor,  broken-down  man,  who  has  lost  his  wife 
and  two  children  and  his  all — something  further  on.  Will 
you  blast  his  future  by  taking  it  from  him  }  No  ;  let  him 
sing  away,  full  of  that  better  hope  that  enabled  Paul  to 
sing  in  the  prison.  Now,  I  want  you  to  take  this  Book  to 
Brittany — to  France — everywhere — to  brighten  the  homes 
of  the  poor,  to  show  to  those  who  are  down,  those  that  are 
degraded,  even  those  that  are  lost,  that  there  is  to  be  for 
them  something  yonder. 


V.     Christian  Giving.     By  Rev.  Dr.  Parker. 

It  strikes  me  that  we  have  in  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
the  outline  of  a  very  much  greater  institution  than  the 
Society  itself  is  at  present.  A  great  desire  is  expressed 
here  and  there,  and  very  fervently  and  sincerely  expressed, 
that  the  incomes  of  our  ministers  should  be  raised  to  a 
very  reasonable  minimum,  and  that  a  good  deal  more 
should  be  done  for  the  Christian ization  of  England.      We 


CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  19 

all  sympathize  with  these  two  objects.  If  there  is  any 
difference  of  opinion  amongst  us,  it  relates  solely  to  the 
method  of  accomplishing  them.  Now,  I  cannot  but  feel 
that  in  the  Home  Missionary  Society  we  have  the  begin- 
ning of  something  which  contains  the  solution  of  any 
difficulties  which  may  gather  round  these  two  questions. 
We  have  an  income,  we  have  a  staff  of  workers,  we  have 
a  field  partially  occupied,  we  have  from  fifty  to  sixty 
years'  or  more  experience  of  this  very  kind  of  work.  A 
great  deal  has  been  done  to  animate  county  operations 
and  sustain  zealous  and  intelTigent  men  in  various  pro- 
vincial positions,  and  I  think  we  have  only  to  increase  this, 
to  carry  out  this  idea  to  its  highest  possibilities,  in  order 
to  accomplish  everything  that  is  desirable  or  practicable 
in  the  way  of  making  ministers  comfortable,  and  greatly 
extending  all  evangelistic  agencies.  I  would,  therefore,  as 
this  appears  to  me  to  be  a  serious  meetjng,  and  not  a  mob 
of  people  gathered  to  hear  about  things  that  really  have 
no  practical  consequence  or  value — I  address  you  rather  as 
a  deliberative  than  a  popular  assembly — I  would  ask  you 
to  think  of  this  much,  whether  there  is  not  in  this  Society 
the  framework  and  outline  of  a  much  greater  institution 
than  itself,  which  might  be  wrought  up  to  all  that  is  re- 
quired for  the  thorough  accomplishment  of  the  two  objects 
which  I  have  now  indicated.  Of  course,  you  will  say,  as 
has  been  already  said,  that  you  have  not  income  enough 
in  this  Society  to  overtake  the  great  work.  That  may  be 
our  blame,  not  the  blame  of  the  Society.  The  Society,  so 
far  as  I  understand  it,  is  perfectly  ready  to  receive  and 
administer  any  amount  of  income  which  we  may  supply. 
It  would  be,  therefore,  I  think,  beginning  the  question 
very  pitifully  for  us  to  sit  here  and  say  this  Society  has 
not  income  enough  to  accomplish  the  two  objects  you 
have  specified.  If  we  will  supply  the  income,  I  am  sure 
the  administrative  ability  of  the  Society  will  be  equal  to  all 
the  exigencies  of  the  situation.  But  if  you  have  not  the 
income,  I  will  tell  you  how  to  get  it.  I  sympathize  with 
the  appeal  to  a  few  people  to  give  considerable  sums  of 
money,  but  that  is  not  the  way  to  get  the  income.  That 
is  one  way  of  helping  yourself  out  of  a  difficulty,  stopping 
a  gap,  helping  yourself  across  a  very  ugly  ditch  ;  but  the 
way  to  get  the  income  is  for  every  soul  to  feel  the  principle 


20  PLATFORM  AIDS-HOME  WORK. 

and  the  responsibility  of  individual  stewardship  to  the  one 
Lord  and  Sovereign  of  the  Church.  And  unless  each  of 
you  lay  by  him  in  store  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as 
God  has  prospered  him,  your  giving  will  be  spasmodic, 
and  you  will  feel  that  you  are  always  giving  because  you 
are  not  giving  systematically  and  proportionately.  No 
man  who  sets  down  his  gifts  and  adds  them  up  from  time 
to  time  but  will,  I  think,  with  rare  exceptions,  be  found  to 
surprise  himself  with  the  paucity  and  poverty  of  his  dona- 
tions. Now  the  Christian  Church  ought  never  to  meet,  in 
my  opinion,  without  the  worship  of  giving  accompanying 
the  worship  of  getting.  I  am  ashamed  to  see  a  thousand 
people  gathered  together  to  sing  hymns,  and  offer  prayers, 
and  read  chapters,  and  hear  all  the  exceeding  great  and 
precious  promises  lavished  upon  their  life,  and  then  go 
away  simply  to  pass  an  opinion  about  the  service,  or  to 
give  some  passing  criticism  about  the  sermon  that  was 
delivered.  No  sacrifice  left  behind,  nothing  stored  on 
the  altar  for  the  poor  and  the  stranger,  the  widow,  and 
the  fatherless,  and  the  desolate  ;  nothing  left  behind  but 
criticism,  observation,  remark  upon  what  has  been  done. 
Now  if^ou  believe  in  Dr.  Chalmers'  principle  of  the  power 
of  littles,  we  have  it  within  the  scope  of  our  ability  now  to 
surprise  ourselves  with  the  largeness  and  the  munificence 
of  our  gifts.  What,  then,  would  I  urge  upon  you  1  This  : 
that  every  Sunday  morning  and  every  Sunday  evening 
something  should  be  done  for  the  cause  of  Christ — that 
all-inclusive  cause  in  which  the  poor  man  has  a  share,  and 
the  sick  child,  and  the  far-away  villager  and  the  toiling 
pastor — and  all  causes  that  come  under  the  wide  designa- 
tion of  Christian  charity.  If  you  do  that,  your  income  will 
be  large  enough  to  meet  all  the  wants  of  this  and  every 
other  Society.  I  want  something  from  every  hand,  a  little 
to  accompany  every  act  of  worship,  and  I  am  confident 
that  all  our  reports  will  assume  a  very  different  colour  and 
a  very  different  tone.  I  accompanied  a  minister  to  a  little 
village  on  one  occasion,  and  I  was  standing  by  whilst  the 
leading  man  of  the  village  was  speaking  to  the  minister, 
and  the  leading  man  handed  him  the  amount  of  the  former 
Sunday's  collection  on  behalf  of  missions,  and  the  amount 
of  that  collection  was  two  shillings  and  sixpence,  and  it 
was  given  with  the  remark  from  this  substantial  farmer: 


CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  2i 

"You  see,  sir,  it  comes  heavy  upon  a  few  of  us."  And 
many  people  who  enjoy  that  anecdote  repeat  the  example. 
Now,  sir,  allow  me  to  say  that  I  stand  here  as  one  who 
personally  and  pastorally  carries  out  the  doctrine  which  I 
have  now  ventured  to  lay  down.  We  never  meet  in  our 
church  without  taking  an  offering  for  Christ,  and  the 
church  is  not  empty.  You  will  see  in  some  places  this 
Gospel  announcement — but  not  in  the  gospel  by  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  or  John  ;  some  other  gospel — '*  No  collection." 
No  sacrifice,  no  giving ;  all  getting,  sucking  in  all  the 
promises,  absorbing  all  the  simiks  and  the  parables,  de- 
lighted with  the  beautiful  sermon  about  pearly  gates,  and 
meandering  rills,  and  jasper  battlements,  and  hills  of  light, 
and  other  things  too  numerous  to  mention — and  that  is 
called  Gospel  service  and  Gospel  stewardship.  No,  no  ; 
until  we  come  to  this — every  man  giving  his  little,  however 
little,  and  giving  it  regularly  and  in  connection  wMth  an  act 
of  worship — this  question  of  money-getting  will  vex  the 
deliberations  and  put  to  perplexity  the  wisdom  and  the 
patience  of  any  committee  that  may  be  constituted  for 
Christian  purposes.  If  you  do  your  best  for  the  people 
the  people  will  respond  to  you  ;  if  you  constantly  live  for 
them,  in  every  prayer  you  offer  and  every  sermon  you 
deliver  ;  if  you  preach  with  every  limb,  with  the  whole 
man,  body,  soul,  and  spirit ;  the  people  will  know  what  you 
are  doing  on  their  behalf,  and  th^y  are  not — I  bear  this 
testimony  gladly  and  emphatically — slow  to  recognise  any 
effort  that  you  may  put  forth  on  their  behalf.  Depend 
upon  it,  that  only  as  our  men  whom  we  send  out  know  and 
love  the  truth  and  speak  it  with  force  and  tenderness  will 
they  succeed  in  this  business.  I  am  glad  that  you  praise 
any  kind  of  ministry,  that  you  indicate  with  favour  aiiy 
kind  of  men  who  are  endeavouring  to  do  good.  Every 
word  you  have  said  I  accept,  and  would  repeat  with  aug- 
mented emphasis  had  I  the  power;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
this  work  is  not  given  to  any  one  man  to  do  or  anv  one 
set  of  men  to  do.  The  great  donor  of  all  heavenly  riches 
hath  given  some  to  be  pastors,  and  teachers,  and  evan- 
gelists, and  servants  of  the  Church  in  manifold  and  un- 
nameable  ways,  and  I  do  protest  against  anybody  sneering 
at  or  undervaluing  any  other  agency  in  the  Christian 
Church  than   that    which  he   represents.      I   welcome  all 


22  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

service,  and  believe  in  all  kinds  of  preaching  that  are  true 
to  the  Cross,  and  I  say,  "  God  bless  you,"  to  every  man 
who  speaks  a  word  for  Christ  out  of  the  energy  and 
conviction  of  his  heart.  I  trust,  therefore,  that  none  of  us 
will  be  depreciated  or  undervalued.  We  labour  in  different 
ways  and  methods,  but  our  object  is  one.  There  is  not  a 
man  in  this  ministry  who  would  not  be  gladdened  beyond 
all  other  joy  by  seeing  men  come  in  and  confessing  their 
sins  and  giving  themselves  to  the  Saviour.  Had  I  the 
power,  I  therefore  would  speak  to  all  men,  of  all  kinds  of 
ability,  and  in  all  spheres  of  service,  and  say,  "All  ye  are 
brethren  :  do  not  undervalue  one  another's  labours,  but  be 
ye  helpers  of  one  another  in  the  strength  of  your  common 
Lord." 


VI.     The  Value  of  Tract    Distribution.     By  Rev. 
Newman  Hall,  LL.B. 

He  said  :  One  man  might  sow  sand,  another  weeds,  and 
another  good  wheat,  but  it  was  the  value  of  the  crop  that 
gave  value  to  the  work.  What,  then,  was  the  seed  which 
the  Tract  Society  sowed }  The  Bible  was  a  book  of 
tracts.  What  grand  old  tracts  were  those  that  Moses 
wrote.  What  sublime  theology,  what  grand  legisla- 
tion, what  noble  purity  and  freedom  in  an  age  of  such 
degradation  and  slavery,  were  contained  in  those  tracts  ! 
What  wonderful  tracts  were  those  David  wrote,  and  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  and  the  rest  of  the  prophets  !  And  then,  in  New 
Testament  times,  what  a  little  tract  was  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew;  but  oh!  what  a  heaven  in  it!  And  what  an 
effect  the  Epistles  had  !  The  tracts  issued  by  the  Tract 
Society  were  reflections  of  the  greater  light  of  those  original 
tracts,  for  a  little  thing  might  reflect  a  great  thing.  A 
drop  of  dew,  a  bit  of  broken  glass  or  pottery,  was  enough 
to  reflect  the  glorious  light  of  the  sun  ;  and  small  and 
insignificant  as  tracts  might  be,  they  served  to  reflect  the 
glory  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  God  had  big  volumes 
in  nature,  but  He  also  had  a  multitude  of  little  leaflets. 
The  gorse  and  the  blue-bell  mingling  their  delicious 
essences,  the  harmony  of  the  architecture  of  the  trees, 
though  the  styles  were  varied — the  old  gnarled  oak  and 


TRACT  DISTRIBUTION.  23 

the  beech,  so  graceful  in  its  stateliness,  the  drooping  willow 
and  the  pillared  pine  ;  the  varieties  of  green,  from  the 
tender  tint  of  the  early-budding  fir-tree  to  the  sober 
raiment  of  the  old  yew-tree — all  taught  a  lesson  of  unity 
in  diversity — a  lesson  which  the  Christian  Church  had  been 
so  long  in  learning  thoroughly,  but  which  this  Society 
emphatically  taught.  The  lambs  frisking  and  sporting  in 
the  exuberance  of  mirth,  the  perch  in  mimic  chase  pur- 
suing each  other,  the  innumerable  swarms  of  insects 
dancing  in  the  solar  ray,  the  birds  all  so  happy,  the  tender 
tones  of  the  blackbird,  the  cuckoo's  shout  of  joy  that 
summer  was  coming  back,  the  lark  soaring  and  singing  as 
if  its  little  heart  would  burst,  the  nightingale  with  its  liquid 
trill  of  pensive  gladness — all  these  told  the  world  that  the 
great  Author's  name  was  love,  and  that  He  rejoiced  to  see 
all  His  creatures  happy.  And  every  tract  in  nature  was  a 
truth.  There  was  a  truth  on  every  blade  of  grass,  and 
every  tree,  and  every  stream — not  all  truth,  but  some  truth, 
rightly  studied,  that  might  lead  man  up  to  God.  So  in  all 
the  publications  of  this  Societ}^  there  was  some  truth  about 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Sometimes  a  man  might  hear  a 
sermon  and  doubt  whether  it  was  delivered  in  a  Grecian 
school  of  philosophy,  a  Jewish  synagogue,  a  mechanics' 
institute,  or  a  Christian  church,  because  it  contained 
nothing  about  the  central  verity  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  but 
all  the  tracts  issued  by  the  Society  tended  to  lead  a  man 
into  the  King's  highway  of  truth.  Work  for  Christ  was  a 
necessary  part  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  He  could  not 
understand  the  consistency  of  Christians  whose  Christianity 
consisted  for  the  most  part  in  going  to  church  once  or 
twice  or  three  times  a  week,  although  once  a  week  had 
now  become  too  fashionable,  expecting  if  they  were  ill  or 
in  trouble  to  be  waited  upon,  visited,  and  comforted,  but 
never  comforting  anybody  themselves.  They  seemed  to 
think  that  it  was  the  business  of  the  ministry  to  convert 
the  world,  instead  of  the  business  of  the  priesthood — the 
priesthood  of  all  who  believed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It 
was  the  priestly  duty  and  privilege  of  all  Christians  to  say, 
every  one  to  his  neighbour,  "  Know  ye  the  Lord."  No  one 
could  know  what  real  religion  was  until  his  religion  was 
developed  and  strengthened  by  some  personal  effort. 
They  must  not   suppose  that  because  they  were  saved  by 


24  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

faith  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  reward  for  good  works. 
He  that  sowed  plentifully  would  reap  plentifully  ;  he  that 
sowed  sparingly  would  reap  sparingly.  Tract  distribution 
was  valuable,  because  it  increased  and  varied  the  oppor- 
tunities of  working  for  Christ.  A  mountain  once  said  to  a 
squirrel,  "  Oh,  you  little  prig  !  ".  but  the  squirrel  replied, 
"  Oh  1  you  may  carry  a  big  forest  on  your  back,  but  you 
cannot  crack  a  nut."  There  were  many  persons  who  could 
write  learned  books  or  go  forth  as  heralds  of  the  Gospel  in 
foreign  lands,  but  it  was  still  something  to  crack  a  nut  by 
distributing  a  tract.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  an  institution 
which  put  the  means  of  usefulness  in  the  hands  of  every 
one  !  When  he  was  in  Ireland  recently,  he  was  told  that 
it  was  scarcely  possible  to  get  Roman  Catholics  into  the 
churches  to  hear  Scriptural  doctrine,  but  that  the  hope  was 
in  the  distribution  of  evangelical  books.  An  opportunity 
was  thus  given  to  women  to  work  for  Christ.  There  were 
some  noble-gifted  women  who  were  capable  of  addressing 
multitudes,  and  he,  for  one,  would  not  say  that  the  gift  of 
God  was  to  be  neglected  ;  but  there  were  others  whose 
tastes  and  instincts  caused  them  to  fehrink  from  such 
publicity.  In  such  cases  the  distribution  of  tracts  was 
suited  to  their  modesty,  gentleness,  and  retiring  spirit,  and 
often  a  tract  would  be  accepted  when  given  by  a  gentle 
woman,  when  it  would  be  rejected  if  offered  by  a  man. 
Little  children,  too,  who  could  do  nothing  else,  could  give 
away  a  tract.  The  results  of  tract  distribution  also  showed 
how  valuable  the  work  was.  When  he  was  in  Paris,  at 
the  Bible  Stand,  during  the  last  Exhibition,  a  gentleman 
connected  with  the  Spanish  department  addressed  him  by 
name,  saying,  "  I  was  in  a  theatre  at  Madrid.  A  little 
tract  had  been  given  me  ;  and  between  the  acts,  wanting 
to  while  away  the  time,  I  took  it  out  and  looked  at  it,  and 
I  was  so  impressed  with  what  it  said,  that  I  rushed  out  of 
the  theatre,  and  have  never  been  inside  one  since."  He 
was  now  a  native  evangelist,  engaged  in  s[)reading  the 
Gospel.  A  man  had  lost  his  way  in  a  wild  moorland 
region  ;  he  was  far  from  his  comfortable  hotel  ;  he  was 
perishing  with  the  cold,  but  he  saw  some  blue  smoke,  and 
found  a  little  hut.  It  was  not  his  comfortable  home,  but 
he  there  gained  instructions  by  which  he  could  reach  it. 
He  was  amongst  Alpine  snows,  and  the  perilous  fog  had 


SUCCESS  AND  SECONDARY  AGENCIES.  25 

come  on,  and  he  had  lost  his  way.  There  was  a  sudden 
uplifting  of  the  mist,  and  he  saw  a  granite  peak  yonder, 
which  told  him  the  direction  he  must  take,  and  so  he  was 
saved  from  the  precipice.  A  fisherman  was  out  fishing, 
and  the  darkness  of  the  night  had  come  on  ;  he  knew  not 
how  to  reach  the  little  harbour  ;  but  there  was  a  lamp  at 
the  door  of  his  cottage,  and  that  little  light  was  enough  to 
guide  him  home.  A  little  pebble  might  bring  down  a  big 
Goliath  ;  a  little  maid  might  lead  a  rich  and  lordly  leper 
to  the  prophet  of  Israel  and  the  river  of  life  ;  and  a  little 
tract  might  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  add  to  the  many 
crowns  of  Christ. 


VII.    Success     and    Secondary     Agencies.       By 

Rev.  Dr.   Parker. 

Suppose  that  no  man  had  achieved  success,  that  every 
man's  hand  fell  by  his  side,  that  every  man's  bow  was  un- 
strung, that  no  man  could  say,  "  The  Word  of  the  Lord 
has  been  powerful  in  my  mouth,"  how  then  }  Should  we 
resolve  upon  giving  up  the  work  and  retiring  from  it  in 
dismay  and  despair  .?  Far  from  it  ;  it  does  not  depend 
upon  our  reports,  we  do  not  derive  our  inspiration  from 
our  successes.  Our  marching  orders  are,  "Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach."  As  for  the  harvest  time,  I  leave 
it  with  Him  to  whom  Paul  looked  and  to  whom  Apollos 
looked  when  they  planted  and  sowed.  We  have  not  to  do 
with  results,  but  with  processes;  we  have  to  do  our  duty, 
and  to  leave  results  entirely' in  the  hand  of  God.  We  have 
heard  the  word  success  from  more  speakers  than  one  to- 
night. Now^,  there  are  very  few  words  which  are  so  little 
understood  as  the  word  success.  It  is  a  word  which  I  do 
not  care  very  much  for.  No  man  knows  the  measure  of  it 
in  relation  to  spiritual  energy  and  ministry.  The  older  I 
get,  the  more  strenuously  I  believe  that  we  have  nothing  to 
do  with  success.  If  it  comes,  well  and  good,  thank  God 
for  it;  but  our  place  is  to  Work,  to  toil,  to  suffer  with 
heroic  patience,  with  joyful  and  expectant  endurance,  leav- 
ing all  the  outcome  to  Him  to  whom  the  kingdom  is  infi- 
nitely dearer  than  it  ever  can  be  to  us.  I  hear  men  say 
that  their  Churches  are  not  in  a  very  prosperous  condition. 


26  PLA  TFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

I  am  afraid  that  the  complaint  is  often  made  in  a  com- 
mercial tone.  I  would  to  God  I  could  drive  tlie  mere  shop 
out  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Men  come  to  me  and  you, 
brother  ministers,  with  a  kind  of  balance-sheet,  take  the 
very  soul  out  of  you,  souring  the  very*  blood  in  your  veins 
by  telling  you  you  have  not  done  so  well  this  year  as  you 
did  last  year.  Who  are  they  that  they  should  draw  a 
balance-sheet,  and  then,  with  profound  impertinence,  tell 
us  what  we  have  done  }  We  are  not  their  servants,  but 
Christ's,  and  we  shall  know  what  we  have  done  to  the 
uttermost  farthing,  and  the  furthermost  limits,  when  we 
stand  face  to  face  with  Him  into  whose  hands  I  would 
rather  fall  than  into  the  hands  of  any  human  judge.  A 
man  says  we  have  only  added  one  member  to  the  Church 
this  year.  I  say,  "  What  is  the  man's  name ?  "  "I  do  not 
know  his  name."  "  Describe  the  man."  "  Well,  he  has 
got  rather  a  high  forehead,  a  nice  dark,  gleaming  eye,  raven 
locks,  spare  in  his  frame,  wiry  in  his  constitution  ;  but  I  do 
not  recollect  his  name."  "Find  it  out."  Then  he  goes, 
and  he  found  that  it  was  Robert  Moffat  that  was  added. 
I  want  to  tell  you  that  you  may  add  one  man,  and  yet 
add  a  whole  world  when  you  write  his  name  upon  your 
book.  When  you  added  John  Wesley  to  the  Church,  you 
added  generation  upon  generation.  Who  are  these  men 
— these  statisticians — that  come  and  tell  us  we  have  only 
added  one  to  the  Church  }  Ah,  sir,  when  you  were  added, 
perhaps  there  was  only  one.  I  repeat  that  if  the  reports 
had  been  exactly  the  contrary  of  what  they  are — dark  and 
gloomy,  marked  with  failure  from  the  beginning  through 
the  whole  course — still  we  should  have  had  to  double 
our  subscriptions  and  renew  our  prayers,  and  utter  our 
oath  of  dedication  at  the  cross  afresh,  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord  hath  bidden  us  go,  and  we  are  not  determined  in  the 
measure  of  our  labour  and  the  fervour  of  our  energy  by  mere 
numerable  successes,  by  figures  that  can  be  tabulated  and 
reported  in  Exeter  Hall.  Now,  as  the  reports  were  pro- 
ceeding I  have  been  holding  another  missionary  meeting. 
I  have  been  in  some  far-off  parts  of  the  earth;  I  have  been 
addressing  a  meeting  at  Sierra  Leone,  and  reading  a  report 
to  the  people  there  about  English  Christians — what  they 
say  about  one  another,  how  they  look,  how  they  eat  and 
drink,  the  fashion  that  they  patronize,  the  literature  that 


SUCCESS  AND  SECONDARY  AGENCIES.  27 

they  are  most  fond  of,  and  I  have  made  you  out  to  be  a 
very  pretty  people.  Oh,  sirs,  you  should  hear  yourselves 
reported  on  at  the  other  end  of  the  earth.  I  am  confident 
that  a  good  many  of  us  habitues  of  Exeter  Hall  would  be 
quite  amazed  if  we  heard  ourselves  described  even  by  the 
friendless  tongues.  When  we  can  read  corrupt  literature  ; 
when  we  can  while  away  hours  in  idleness,  in  all  but  blas- 
phemous indolence ;  when  we  can  backbite  and  slander 
one  another  ;  when  we  can  shrug  the  shoulder  and  look 
askance,  and  drop  the  word  of  poison  into  conversation  re- 
specting one  another's  standing  and  reputation  in  society ; 
we  are  hardly  the  people  to  ask  whether  the  blacks  can 
rule,  and  whether,  if  we  had  so-and-so  in  a  distant  colony, 
such  and  such  will  not  be  the  consequences.  When  we 
have  washed  our  own  hands,  and  shown  what  we  can  do, 
it  will  be  time  enough  to  look  with  suspicion  upon  nations 
that  are  far  away.  Now,  this  resolution  does  not  under- 
value secondary  agencies  ;  but  it  holds  out,  as  I  understand, 
the  doctrine  that  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  alone  can  truly 
save  and  elevate  mankind.  W^e  have  nothing  to  say  to 
secondary  agencies  ;  but  I  have  to  suggest  to  you  whether 
those  secondary  agencies  have  not  proved  themselves  to 
be  lamentable  failures  as  addressed  to  great  primary  effects 
and  consequences.  Within  their  own  sphere,  they  are 
everything  we  can  desire ;  but,  believe  me,  the  world  is 
not  going  to  be  saved  by  better  sewerage,  by  deeper  drain- 
ing, by  whitewashing  the  walls  of  artisans'  dwellings  more 
profusely,  by  Saturday  half-holidays,  by  bank  holidays, 
and  by  "nine  hours  at  the  seaside  for  35-."  All  that  kind 
of  thing  is  right  enough  in  its  place  ;  but  it  never  touches 
the  grave,  it  never  blows  the  trumpet  of  resurrection  over 
dead  souls.  You  must  look  at  these  things  in  their  own 
place  and  in  their  own  relationship,  and  value  them  highly, 
and  promote  them  all  you  can  ;  but  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  alone  can  touch  the  heart  and  renew  the  soul.  Oh, 
sir,  we  talk  about  an  academy  which  is  presently  to  be 
opened.  I  have  been  at  an  academy  to-night.  Did  you 
observe  one  word  that  the  venerable  apostle  used  }  it  was 
the  word  *'  dawn."  He  was  speaking  to  a  set  of  men  about 
the  resurrection  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come,  and 
what  was  it  he  saw  on  the  countenances  of  those  listening 
men  1     It  was  the  dawn.     I  would  to  God  I  could  see  the 


28  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME   WORK. 

dawn  myself.  To  be  a  man  sent  of  God  to  speak  such 
truth  as  brings  a  dawn  into  the  human  face  !  When  he 
saw  that  dawn,  he  saw  the  heavens  opened  ;  he  saw  the 
angel  that  is  in  every  man,  the  God  that  throbs  in  every 
heart ;  he  saw  the  morning  of  immortahty !  I  have  often 
envied  our  missionary  brethren  when  they  have  been  teUing 
a  man  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  depicting  the  cross,  ap- 
pealing to  his  heart,  to  his  best  nature — I  have  often  envied 
him  his  view  of  the  first  calm,  steady  look.  In  the  Bible 
we  often  read  such  words  as  these — "  His  eyes  were 
opened."  This  was  the  case  with  our  friend.  He  saw  the 
eyes  of  the  man  opened,  beholding  chariots  of  fire,  angels, 
and  great  hosts  of  ministering  ones.  If  we  could  have 
seen  such  a  dawn  on  any  human  countenance  as  that,  and 
then  have  heard  the  argument  that  missionaries  have  been 
a  failure,  we  should  have  found  the  best  answer  in  that 
luminous,  that  indescribable  spectacle.  When  I  was  in 
New  York  some  time  ago,  a  man  with  turbaned  head  rose 
at  a  missionary  meeting,  and  said,  in  a  soft,  musical  voice, 
**  You  have  heard  that  missionary  enterprise  has  been  a 
failure  ;  I  am  here  to  give  the  lie  to  that  statement."  He 
himself  was  the  answer ;  and  I  felt,  as  I  looked  upon  that 
intelligent.  Christianized  Brahmin,  who  twenty- five  years 
ago  would  not  have  spoken  to  the  proudest  monarch  in 
Europe,  standing  there  as  a  little  child  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  that  if  he  alone  represented  the  sum  total  of  the 
effects  produced  by  missionary  enterprise,  every  prayer 
had  been  answered,  and  every  penny  had  been  well  spent. 
You  have  entrusted  me  with  a  solemn  resolution.  You 
say,  "  This  meeting  earnestly  prays."  Sir/  is  it  possible  ? 
"  This  meeting  earnestly  prays" — all  these  young  people  in 
the  gallery,  all  these  elderly  people,  these  men  of  business, 
and  women  who  have  families  to  guide  and  direct,  is  it 
possible  that  this  assembly  "  earnestly  prays "  ?  Why, 
consider  the  import  of  the  words  ;  what  is  there  to  hinder 
us  from  taking  heaven  by  storm  then  t  "  This  meeting 
earnestly  prays  !  "  Consider  what  you  are  about  to  vote. 
An  uplifted  hand  is  a  prayer.  This  is  no  technical  resolu- 
tion or  formal  vow.  It  is  solemn  as  an  oath,  it  is  an  appeal 
to  heaven.  Beware  how  you  vote  it.  It  pledges  you  to 
your  knees,  to  earnest  crying  and  tears  before  God,  and 
mighty  wrestling  with  the  Omnipotent  One.     If  we  did 


SOXCESS  AND  SECONDARY  AGENCIES.  29 

earnestly  pray,  the  place  wherein  we  are  assembled  would 
be  shaken,  and  Pentecostal  winds  and  fires  would  attest  in 
our  hearts  and  lives  the  presence  of  an  ever-living  God. 
Now,  let  me  tell  you — and  if  I  get  the  better  of  my  cold, 
and  am  able  to  fulfil  my  engagements,  this  would  be 
my  speech  all  the  month  through — where  you  fail,  where 
I  fail,  where  all  Churches  fail,  is  in  this  matter  : — You 
hear  the  sermon,  you  "  Hold  the  fort,"  you  "  Ring  the 
bells  of  heaven,"  you  go  away,  saying,  ''  Beautiful  sermon, 
nice  sermon  ;  1  enjoyed  it  so  much,"  but  you  leave  no 
sacrifice  behind  you.  What,  a  thousand  people  coming 
to  sing  hymns,  and  offer  prayers,  and  hear  psalms, 
and  make  no  collection  !  It  is  profanity  ;  it  is  the  vilest 
anti-climax  ;  it  is  the  cruellest  irony.  Why,  every  time  we 
meet  we  should  give  an  offering  to  Christ.  Knock  at  the 
door  openly,  lovingly,  with  both  hands,  mayhap,  now  and 
again  ;  always  do  this,  and  prove  Him  if  He  will  not  open 
the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  out  a  blessing  that  there 
shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it.  The  great  secret  of  all 
your  successes  in  a  mechanical  and  financial  point  of  view 
must  come  out  of  a  deeper  spiritual  life,  and  this  deeper 
spiritual  life  will  make  you  give  every  time  you  meet.  We 
have  begun  that  in  my  place.  I  sometimes  see  it  an- 
nounced on  the  city  walls  (tell  it  not  in  Sierra  Leone), 
"  Mr.  So-and-So  will  preach  at  such  a  place — no  collection." 
Oh,  that  we  should  have  lived  to  see  the  day  of  "no  collec- 
tion,"— all  getting,  no  giving ;  anecdotes,  stories,  tears, 
singing  psalms,  "holding  forts,"  "  ringing  the  bells,"  and  no 
collection.  Oh,  sir,  the  Church  has  got  wrong  tliere.  I 
used  to  preach  in  this  hall  ;  I  preached  here  for  eighteen 
months,  and  people  used  to  say  to  me,  "  If  you  did  not 
collect  as  you  do,  you  would  have  Exeter  Hall  filled  down 
the  stairs,  and  into  the  Strand."  Well,  sir,  when  we  came 
to  pay  i^Soo  for  the  use  of  the  building,  where  would  the 
people  have  been  then  ?  In  the  Strand  ?  Now,  that  is 
rather  an  awkward  place  for  making  a  collection.  But, 
apart  from  that,  I  want  the  chairman,  as  a  man  of  busi- 
ness— I  want  all  my  ministerial  friends,  on  the  right 
hand  and  on  the  left — to  make  some  use  of  tliese  May 
meetings  in  their  pulpit  services,  showing  that  there  is 
a  worship  of  giving  as  well  as  a  worship  of  getting  ;  and 
so  long  as  the  collection  is  always  sneered  at  or  referred 


so  FLA  TFORM  AIDS-HOME  WORK. 

to  with  laughter,  even  friendly  laughter,  so  long  as  it  is  not 
regarded  as  a  serious  sacrifice,  a  distinctly  religious  act,  we 
shall  find  our  resources  crippled  and  our  deliberations 
vexed  with  earthly  considerations.  "What  will  you  give, 
sir  ?  What  will  you  give  to  this  object  ?  I  have  called 
upon  you,  though  I  think  you  are  too  poor  to  give  anything 
to  it ;  but  what  will  you  give  ?  "  "  Well,  what  are  other 
people  giving  ?  "  *'  So  and  so."  Now,  that  is  a  true  state- 
ment. Said  a  poor  laundress  to  a  clergyman  to  whom 
she  was  speaking,  "  Well,  I  cannot  do  as  the  great  folks  do. 
I  cannot  give  you  a  guinea  a  year,  but  I  will  give  you  6d. 
a  week."  Unless  we  get  the  weekly  offerings,  regular, 
systematic  giving,  all  these  resolutions  will  be  so  much 
waste  paper.  I  ask  you  to  look  at  this  ;  I  say  it  more 
emphatically  because  I  venture  to  say  that  I  am  a  minister 
of  a  congregation  which  has  done  this,  and  is  doing  it,  and 
the  church  is  not  empty,  and  'Christ  does  not  forget  to 
send  those  to  hear  who  are  prepared  to  support  His  cause. 
"  This  meeting  earnestly  prays."  Now,  does  it  ?  Stand 
up,  if  you  please,  all  of  you,  and  I  will  pray  with  you,  and 
we  will  earnestly  pray  now.  "  Almighty  God,  Thou  who 
didst  send  Thy  Son  to  die  for  us,  baptize  us  as  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven.  We  have  the  bap- 
tism of  water ;  give  us  the  baptism  of  fire.  Drive  out  of 
our  hearts  all  selfishness,  and  all  evil,  and  all  idolatry  ;  give 
us  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  and  trust,  and  love,  and  loyalty, 
and  may  we  give  ourselves  a  living  sacrifice  to  Thee, 
Thou  Son  of  God." 


VIII.    Sunday  Schools.     By  Rev.  A.  Mursell. 

My  subject  refers  to  means  and  appliances  for  aiding 
Sunday-school  teachers  to  qualify  for  their  great  work, 
and  to  plans  for  testing  their  efficiency  for  its  discharge.  I 
rejoice  most  heartily  in  these  ways  and  means,  not  only  as 
indicating  a  stronger  interest  on  the  part  of  the  Christian 
Church,  in  the  work  undertaken  by  the  teacher  ;  but  chiefly 
as  a  sign  of  an  increased  importance  being  attached  to  that 
work  by  teachers  themselves,  and  an  enhanced  sense  of 
its  responsibility  and  privilege.  Demand  should  precede 
supply,  and  I  take  it  that  there  has  been  a  demand  for  these 


SUNDA  V  SCHOOLS.  31 

agencies  on  the  part  of  Sunday-school  teachers,  who  are 
beginning  to  discover  that  their  work  is  a  work,  and  not 
a  pastime;  and  that  it  consists  in  the  systematic  training  of 
the  nascent  minds  which  are  to  influence  the  Church  and 
the  world  when  we  are  gone,  and  not  in  simply  keeping  a 
handful  of  children  out  of  mischief  for  two  hours  every 
Sunday.  They  feel  that  it  demands  the  effort  and  concen- 
tration of  their  best  powers — not  the  perfunctory  dedica- 
tion of  a  few  scraps  of  their  leisure  time  ;  and  hence  the 
demand  for  such  helps  as  these  agencies  indicate,  a  demand 
which  has  been  nobly  and  simply  met  by  the  zeal  and 
devotion  of  the  Sunday-school  Union.  But  the  resolu- 
tion speaks  of  fruits  as  well  as  means.  I  confess,  sir,  I 
have  always  felt  myself  unable  to  enter  into  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  some  people  can  become  inspired  at  an  agricul- 
tural show.  They  will  walk  up  and  down  amongst  rows 
and  vistas  of  ploughs  and  harrows,  and  lawn-mowers,  and 
turnip-cutters,  and  hay  forks,  and  thrashing  machines,  and 
clod-crushers,  and  get  as  excited  and  inspired  as  if  they 
were  threading  their  way  amongst  the  lamps  of  heaven,  or 
walking  amidst  the  golden  candlesticks.  But  although  these 
are  no  doubt  very  useful  things  in  their  way,  the  stiff  and 
greasy  cranks  and  wheels  have  no  language  to  speak  to 
one's  imagination  ;  one  is  willing  to  pay  a  passing  tribute 
to  the  ingenuity  of  the  inventor,  but  one  grows  impatient 
at  the  long  explanations  of  how  the  thing  works — how 
a  strap  goes  over  there,  and  a  cog  fits  in  there,  and  a  knife 
sticks  out  there,  and  a  pair  of  shears  make  their  appear- 
ance there,  and  how  the  whole  business  is  done  in  a  tithe 
of  the  time  of  the  old  system.  You  hurry  on  to  see  the 
fruits — the  laden  sheaves,  the  pouting  grapes,  the  bursting 
presses,,  1  he  rich  russet  of  the  fecund  field,  the  greenery  of 
the  smiling  garden,  or  the  purple  and  vermilion  of  the 
liberal  orchard.  And  so  one  hurries  over  the  clauses  of 
this  resolution  which  speak  about  the  iuipleuicnts,  to  dwell 
with  grateful  pleasure  on  that  part  which  points  to  the  rich 
fruits.  This  may  seem  very  ungrateful  to  the  machinery  ; 
but  one  can't  go  into  ecstasies  over  a  tool-chest.  Hammers 
and  nails,  and  screws  and  saws,  are  capital  things  in  their 
way  ;  but  flowers  and  leaves  and  berries  are  far  more 
delightful  ;  and  the  mind  prefers  the  Garden  of  Eden  to 
Birmingham  or  Sheffield.      Therefore  it  is  that  my  note  of 


32  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME  WORK. 

rejoicing  is  reserved  for  that  statement  of  my  resolution 
which  speaks  of  18,000  Sunday  scholars  added  to  Christ's 
confessing-  Church  during  the  year.  The  fragrance  of  18,000 
fresh  young  flowers  let  loose  upon  the  garden;  the  juices  of 
18,000  clusters  added  to  the  wine-press,  to  exhilarate  the 
Church  below,  and  stimulate  the  hosanna  of  the  Church 
above.  The  incense  of  18,000  new-tuned  prayers  rising  from 
the  altar  ;  18,000  fresh  photographs  of  the  Crucified  printed 
on  the  hearts  of  children  ;  18,000  morning  songs  greeting 
the  spring-tide,  and  carolling  to  the  flowers  of  May.  Thank 
God  for  that.  Take  courage  while  you  can  point  to  such 
trophies  of  your  work.  It  is  in  this,  sir,  that  I  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable.  And  after  all,  it  is  not  so  shabby  and 
ungrateful  towards  the  machinery  as  it  seems  at  first. 
Machines  are  very  good  things  ;  but  they  are  useless  with- 
out the  steam  to  turn  them.  And  systems,  and  examinations, 
and  inspectorships,  are  first-rate  arrangements,  but  they  are 
no  use  without  loving  li^earts  to  fill  the  means  with  life. 
The  tonic  sol-fa  modulator  may  be  a  capital  contrivance, 
but  it  is  a  hideous-looking  concern  with  its  doh  7'a  me^  and 
if  it  were  not  for  the  hymns  and  hallelujahs  for  which  it 
helps  the  channel,  we  should  pack  it  ofl"  to  Mr.  Curwen's 
address  by  book-post,  and  wait  till  the  angels  gave  us  our 
first  singing  lesson,  with  a  sunbeam  for  the  baton,  and 
heaven  for  the  orchestra.  It  is  a  refreshing  thing  for  those 
of  us  whose  faith  and  trust  gets  often  warped  and  troubled 
by  all  sorts  of  questionings  and  doubts,  born  out  of  the 
problems  of  the  day,  and  the  puzzles  of  our  lives,  to  think 
of  what  an  aggregate  of  simple  and  pure  love  for  Christ 
is  represented  by  those  18,000  fresh  won  hearts.  It  is 
delightful  to  dwell  upon  its  freshness,  and  the  fulness  of 
its  simple  faith.  It  is  like  coming  from  a  hot  and  dusty 
turnpike,  where  the  hawthorn  on  the  hedges  is  begrimed 
with  the  vapour  of  the  traffic,  into  a  stream-watered  dell, 
where  the  blue-bells  and  anemones  catch  the  dew-drop  and 
smile  amongst  the  moss  and  bracken.  For  childhood's 
faith  and  love  is  very  strong  and  fresh  in  its  simplicity.  I 
heard  of  a  minister  who  went  to  preach  somewhere  in  the 
north,  and  he  was  directed  to  tell  the  driver  when  he  got  to 
the  station  to  drive  him  to  "  Ebenezer  "  Chapel.  He  acted 
upon  these  instructions,  when  the  driver — who  was  not  like 
a   London  "  cabby,"  only  to  be  guided  by  the  names  of 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS.  33 

public-houses — but  who  was  a  quiet,  civil  old  fellow,  whose 
kindness  to  his  horse  marked  him  as  a  good  sort — turned 
to  his  "  fare,""  and  said  :  *'  Ebenezer  ?  oh,  you  mean  little 
Charley's  chapel,  don't  you  ?  "  "  Little  Charley's  Chapel  ! 
no  ;  I  mean  Ebenezer."  "  Yes  ;  we  old  folks  know  it  as 
Little  Charley's  Chapel,"  he  said.  "  Why  do  you  call  it 
Little  Charley's  Chapel  .-*  Was  it  because  the  honourable 
member  for  Salford  laid  the  foundation  stone  }  "  "  No  ; 
but  Little  Charley  laid  the  foundation  stone.  The  fact 
is,  sir,  a  few  years  ago  we  wanted  a  new  chapel,  and 
we  thought  a  good  deal  about  how  the  money  must 
be  raised  ;  but  times  were  very  bad,  and  the  people 
were  very  poor,  and  labour  and  materials  were  very  dear, 
so  we  resolved  to  give  it  up.  But  a  day  or  two  after 
the  meeting  a  little  boy  about  nine  years  old  came  to  the 
minister's  door  and  rang  the  bell.  The  minister  came  out 
himself,  and  found  the  little  fellow  with  his  face  all  flushed, 
and  the  perspiration  standing  on  his  forehead,  and  his  little 
toy  wheelbarrow,  in  which  there  were  six  new  bricks.  He 
had  wheeled  his  load  up  a  long  steep  hill,  and  was  so  out 
of  breath  that  he  could  hardly  speak.  At  last  he  found 
breath  to  answer  the  minister's  wondering  question,  '  Well, 
Charley,  what  is  it?  '  '  Oh,  please,  sir,'  said  Charley,  '  I  heard 
you  wanted  a  new  chapel,  and  were  thinking  of  giving  it 
up  ;  so  I  begged  these  few  bricks  from  some  builders  who 
are  building  a  house  down  the  village,  and  I  thought  they 
would  do  to  begin  with.'  The  minister  called  the  com- 
mittee together  again,  and  Charley's  little  barrowful  of 
bricks  was  brought  before  them.  The  child's  enthusiasm 
was  contagious,  and  the  desponding  committee  plucked  up 
heart  ;  and  little  Charley  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  big 
chapel,  which  will  hold  1,000  people,  and  cost  ;^6,ooo ;  and 
now  it  is  out  of  debt.'"  "  And  what  has  become  of  little 
Charley  ?  "  The  old  man's  voice  grew  husky.  '*  If  you'll 
let  me  pull  up  at  the  churchyard,  sir,  I'll  show  you 
Charley's  grave.  There's  a  many  graves  there,  but  you 
may4always  tell  Charley's  by  the  bright,  fresh  flowers.  He 
was  the  pet  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  the  children  ne\-er 
let  a  day  go  by  without  putting  fresh  flowers  on  his  grave. 
He  used  to  live  close  by  the  school,  and  he  died  the  very 
day  the  last  pound  of  the  chapel  debt  was  paid.  It  was  a 
summer's  day,  and  he  made  them  set  his  window  open  that 

D 


34  PLATFORM  AIDS-HOME  WORK, 

he  might  hear  the  children  sing.  He  would  have  them 
sing  a  happy  tuiie,  and  he  died  trying  to  join  them  in  it 
from  his  little  bed  ;  but  though  he  could  hardly  begin  the 
hymn  on  earth,  we  all  believe  he  finished  it  in  heaven." 
Amongst  the  18,000  trophies  of  your  work,  or  of  God's 
blessing  on  it,  there  is  at  least  the  force  of  a  like  precious 
faith — new  hope,  new  courage,  new  consecration.  Sir,  it 
would  enhance  greatly  the  privilege  of  being  permitted  to 
take  part  in  this  most  May-like  of  all  the  May  Meetings,  if 
one  could  but  speak  a  word  which  should  prove  of  living 
and  lasting  encouragement  to  those  bands  of  Sunday- 
school  teachers  who  congregate  before  me — a  word  which 
should  endear  their  work  to  them  more  fully,  impart  to 
them  a  new  sense  of  its  importance,  and  inspire  them  with 
fresh  heart  in  its  discharge.  I  would  fain  aim  at  the  utter- 
ance of  such  a  word  by  reminding  you  of  the  reflex  influ- 
ence of  your  work,  how  it  acts  upon  the  child  and  reacts 
upon  yourself.  There  is  no  human  mission  or  occupation 
which  carries  with  it  more  strong  or  striking  proofs  that  it 
is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  than  Sunday-school 
teaching.  An  earnest  teacher  learns  more  from  his  class 
than  he  can  ever  impart  to  it.  Not  only  do  their  inquiries, 
when  their  minds  are  interested,  prompt  the  teacher  to  a 
study  which  is  useful  to  himself,  but  their  wistfulness  and 
wonder  as  the  love-depths  of  the  plan  of  human  redemp- 
tion open  before  them,  begets  a  new  interest  in  your  own 
heart,  and  reveal  to  you  new  charms  in  that  Saviour  of 
whom  you  speak,  as  you  take  of  the  things  of  Christ  and 
show  them  to  the  child.  You  soon  find  out  that  the  Bible 
is  a  heart-book,  and  that  to  stop  short  at  a  critical  study  of 
its  canon  will  not  quench  the  thirst  which  is  panting  for  its 
spirit.  It  is  well  enough  for  certain  mechanical  patentees 
of  a  system  of  "culture"  to  dissect  the  Bible  as  a  botanist 
dissects  a  flower  or  a  surgeon  dissects  a  body,  but  there  are 
better  and  truer  apostles  of  "  sweetness  and  light "  to  be 
found  amongst  the  children  to  whom  it  is  your  mission  to 
tell  the  story  of  a  Saviour's  love,  than  in  the  studies  of 
savants  or  the  cloisters  of  pedants.  To  these  latter  a 
promise  may  be  but  a  curious  example  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek  construction  ;  but  to  that  child  who  has  just  begun 
to  catch  the  outline  of  the  Cross,  and  on  whose  eye  the 
sheen  of  the  halo  of  its  wondrous  love  begins  to  shine,  that 


SUNDA  V  SCHOOLS,  35 

promise  is  a  living  flower,  to  be  garnered  like  the  violets  of 
spring.  When  they  read  the  Bible  they  do  not  keep  a  pair 
of  scissors  handy  to  snip  out  this  passage,  or  an  almanack 
to  challenge  this  date,  but  they  read  the  vivid  histories, 
and  see  their  heroes,  and  hear  their  voices,  and  believe 
in  them.  They  revel  in  its  sceneries,  climbing  its  crests 
and  setting  sail  upon  its  seas.  Carmel  and  Lebanon 
are  not  marks  upon  a  map,  but  lungs  which  send  breezes 
through  their  flaxen  hair,  and  coignes  of  vantage  whence 
they  see  the  panorama  and  the  landscape.  The  Psalms 
are  not  the  key-note  for  a  critic  snarl  of  doubt,  but  harp- 
notes  to  which  their  own  hearts  keep  tune.  So  you  must 
fling  the  light  of  nature  on  the  page,  till  nature  and 
revelation  blend  in  one  rich  shining.  It  is  not  your  work 
to  do  as  many  would-be  learned  preachers  do,  who  air  their 
smattering  of  Greek  instead  of  breathing  the  expirations 
of  grace,  teasing  and  bothering  people  about  the  tenses  of 
a  verb,  or  the  force  of  an  adjective;  but  you  will  show 
them  living  things.  Now  you  will  take  them  through 
the  mountain  gorge,  and  let  them  see  it  leap  among  the 
boulders,  flinging  the  golden  text  up  in  a  hundred  rain- 
bows, as  it  plays  through  the  fancy's  light.  Now  you  will 
carry  them  off  to  some  Indian  jungle,  pig-sticking  with  the 
future  Emperor  of  India — and  now  they  shall  hear  the 
beagles  baying  in  the  bracken  fern  as  they  hunt  the  stag 
in  the  Highlands  or  the  chamois  on  the  Alps.  Parchment- 
headed  and  parchment-hearted  martinets,  who  call  them- 
selves philosophers,  may  call  this  shallow  picture-painting. 
Withered  spinsters  who  take  the  chair  at  meetings  for  the 
rights  of  women,  and  childless  blue-stockings  who  wrangle 
at  parochial  vestries,  may  call  this  uninstructive,  but  you 
need  not  be  ashamed  of  it.  While  we  remember  who  it 
was  who  held  up  a  bunch  of  lilies  in  His  sacred  hand  and 
preached  from  them  ;  and  pointed  to  the  russet  cornfields 
and  the  reddening  sunset;  who  drew  his  picture  on  the 
easel  of  the  shining  East,  and  mixed  his  colours  on  the 
palette  of  the  sky  ;  we  may  at  least  be  as  tolerant  of 
a  teaching  which  keeps  folks  awake  with  poetry,  as  of  that 
which  sends  them  to  sleep  with  prose.  Did  your  child 
never  come  and  ask  you  to  tell  it  a  tale  ?  And  when  you 
give  it  a  choice,  it  will  choose  the  one  which  it  has  heard 
the  oftenest,  and   with  which  it  is  most  familiar.     It  can 


36  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

correct  you  if  you  leave  out  a  word.  And  yet  the  tale 
lacks  no  interest  by  repetition.  So  you  need  not  be  afraid 
of  exhausting  the  story  of  the  Cross.  The  demand,  when 
it  is  once  understood,  will  be — 

"  Tell  me  the  old,  old  story, 
Of  Jesus  and  His  love.'' 

I  have  sometimes  noticed  a  child  trying  to  amuse  itself 
poring  over  a  picture-book  ;  but  the  interest  is  soon  gone. 
At  length  it  takes  courage  to  put  the  book  upon  its 
mother's  knee,  and  say,  "  Will  you  show  me  the  pictures  } " 
and  the  dry  book  draws  a  new  interest  from  the  sacred 
table  where  it  has  been  set.  When  the  table-cloth  is  the 
pattern  of  a  mother's  dress,  all  that  is  placed  on  it  becomes 
enchanted  ;  a  new  eloquence  clothes  the  book  when  a  kind 
finger  is  the  index  which  points  to  it.  There  is  David  with 
the  giant's  head.  While  the  child  looked  at  it  alone,  it  was 
an  old  legend,  shorn  of  its  interest  and  deadened  of  its 
charm  ;  but  now  the  finger  points  at  it,  the  drops  of  blood 
seem  to  trickle  from  its  severed  neck,  and  the  triumph- 
flash  gleams  in  the  young  chieftain's  eyes,  and  the  drama 
starts  into  a  living  thing.  The  spears  of  Philistia  seem 
real,  and  the  burnished  swords  begin  to  gleam,  and  the 
picture  leaps  into  a  moving  act  of  life  under  the  spell  of 
that  pointing  hand.  Let  a  dull  and  unobservant  mind  be 
wandering  through  Alpine  glories,  absorbed  perhaps  with 
other  and  meaner  thoughts  than  the  beauties  around  him 
should  suggest  ;  all  that  he  derives  from  the  scene  is  a 
general  impression  of  magnificence  or  vastness,  and  nothing 
more.  But  if  a  quick-eyed  poet  is  his  companion,  with 
his  warm  imagination,  he  will  point  out  a  hundred  subtle 
lights  and  shades  he  would  not  otherwise  have  caught,  and 
the  panorama  will  be  richer  in  all  time  to  come  in  his 
memory  and  thought.  The  flushing  rose-light  warming 
the  cold  snow-wreath,  like  a  blush  upon  a  maiden's  cheek, 
the  silver  minaret  pointing  at  the  sky  as  though  some 
giant  mountaineer  had  drawn  his  sword  to  bathe  and 
burnish  it  in  heaven  ;  the  flying  cloud  spreading  its  wings 
over  the  white  glacier,  and  creeping  down  the  cliff  like  the 
shadow  of  a  weird  procession  ;  the  myriad  flora  venturing 
to  spread  their  carpet  and  weave  their  broidered  altar-cloth 
at  the  very  threshold   of  the  snow-temple  ;  these,  and  a 


SUNDAY  SCHOOLS.  37 


volume  of  such  things,  would  be  passed  by  in  the  dull 
thought  of  the  mere  professional  traveller  who  goes  to 
**  do  "  a  district ;  it  needs  a  man  who  takes  his  soul  as  well 
as  his  knapsack  with  him,  to  see  the  glories,  and  with 
such  an  one  to  show  the  pictures,  they  live,,  and  breathe, 
and  speak.  The  same  thing  has  a  different  power  and  influ- 
ence according  to  conditions.  Let  me  walk  'alone  by  the 
sad  sea  waves,  or  through  the  interlacing  avenue,  and  it  has 
but  small  charm  for  me,  and  its  whispers  lack  coherence  ; 
but  let  two  beating  hearts  keep  time  to  the  footsteps  which 
press  these  walks,  and  the  voice  of  whispering  leaf  and 
murmuring  sea  is  rich  and  eloquent.  Let  me  pluck  the 
blue-bell  from  beside  the  stream,  and  I  am  ready  to  fling 
it  back  upon  the  rippling  tide  with  the  next  capricious 
m'ovement  of  my  hand  ;  but  let  one  pair  of  taper  fingers 
gather  the  same  nosegay  and  fix  it  in  my  button-hole,'  and 
every  flower  is  a  stanza,  and  every  bunch  an  epic  hymn. 
The  man  who  gathers  flowers  alone,  packs  them  up  in 
a  tin  box,  classifies  them  and  lectures  about  them  ;  the 
ferns  grow  grim  as  a  schoolmaster's  rod  as  they  are  bran- 
dished in  the  scientific  hand  ;  it  is  not  bracken,  or  maiden- 
hair, or  heart's-tongue,  but  something  which  almost  loosens 
your  front  teeth  to  pronounce.  But  those  who  pluck 
flowers  with  their  hearts  see  in  them  far  more  than 
botany  discovers,  and  the  blue  star  of  the  forget-me- 
not,  and  the  tough  fibre  of  the  ivy  speak  more  heart- 
language  at  a  glance  than  the  most  long-winded  lecturer 
could  get  through  in  a  day.  A  bunch  of  lilies  shaking  in 
a  coy  and  trembling  hand  is  like  a  chime  of  prophetic  joy- 
bells,  and  the  scents  of  orange  groves  breathe  to  the  long- 
ing heart  the  thought  of  wreaths  and  unions.  And  so, 
when  the  proud  human  mind  bends  over  the  garden  of  the 
Divine  promises,  it  only  botanizes  among  them;  it  criticises 
the  precepts,  and  seems  to  imply  how  much  better  it  could 
have  made  and  grouped  those  flowers.  Men  won't  study 
God's  truth  as  lovers,  but  as  lecturers  ;  they  seek  for  the 
botany  of  the  Bible,  but  not  its  poetry ;  they  dry  its 
growth  between  the  leaves  of  books,  instead  of  planting 
them  near  their  own  hearts.  If  you  want  a  violet  to  grow, 
you  must  take  up  its  root,  not  cut  off  the  flower  ;  and  so  if 
you  want  a  promise  to  endure,  you  must  take  it  with  the 
fibres  of  a  father's  heart  adhering  to  it,  a  living,  throbbing 


38  PLATFORM  AIDS—HOME    WORK. 

thing.  "  Show  me  Thy  ways  ;  "  let  the  lover's  hand  gather 
and  present  the  flower,  and  then  the  scent  is  sweet,  and  the 
colour  radiant ;  let  the  poet's  finger  point  the  landscape, 
and  then  the  lights  and  shades  are  harmonious,  and  the 
glory  is  complete.  Let  the  Master  hand  attune  the  harp- 
strings,  and  the  music  will  not  jar.  The  reason  why  we 
hear  so  many  scientific  and  critical  objections  to  the  Bible 
is  that  it  is  a  book  for  the  heart,  while  men  only  study  it 
with  the  head.  It  would  be  as  absurd  to  try  and  sing 
a  proposition  of  Euclid,  or  set  the  multiplication  table  to 
music,  as  to  make  the  Bible  exclusively  a  school-book  for 
the  brain,  instead  of  a  hymn-book  for  the  heart.  It  is  be- 
cause men  sit  down  to  the  Bible  as  the  botanist  sits  down 
to  the  flower — to  tear  it  up,  not  to  admire  its  beauty,  or 
inhale  its  scent — that  the  learned  or  unlearned  sceptic 
sneers  away  its  inspiration,  the  carper  cavils  at  its  authen- 
ticity, and  the  fool  snarls  out  of  his  shallow  heart,  "There  is 
no  God."  Teachers  may  grow  old  and  hoary  ;  but  you  will 
never  grow  old  enough  to  regret  your  interest  in  the  little 
children.  It  is  said  that  when  the  sainted  Dr.  Guthrie  lay 
upon  his  death-bed,  he  asked  that  a  little  child  might  come 
to  him  and  sing.  He  said,  "  My  bonnie  lamb,  let  me  hear 
one  of  the  bairns'  hymns."  A  child's  clear  voice  was  the 
bell  upon  the  horses  which  bore  his  chariot  to  heaven. 
The  old  man's  heart  yearned  after  his  child  companions. 
He  wanted  the  bairns'  hymns.  Those  bairns  had  once  sung 
lewd  and  ribald  songs,  but  he  had  dropped  a  new  song  into 
their  lips,  and  honeyed  them  to  hosannas,  and  he  wanted 
to  hear  the  new  song  in  the  young  voices.  It  was  a 
pleasant  sound  to  fall  asleep  to,  and  to  rise  to.  It  was 
earth's  evensong,  and  heaven's  bright  matin  shout  in  one. 
^The  bairns'  hymns,  the  hymns  of  childhood  !  Ah,  ped- 
ants may  despise  them,  but  angels  love  them.  They 
may  have  no  music  in  the  halls  of  theology  or  of  learned 
infidelity,  but  they  fill  heaven  until  seraphim  grow  ecstatic 
at  the  sound.  The  bairns'  hymns  !  Thanks,  gentle  spirit, 
for  the  gentle  thought.  Oh,  when  I  die,  let  the  doctrinaires 
be  mute,  let  the  specialists  be  silent,  and  keep  their  fingers 
from  the  curtain,  and  their  shadows  from  the  light ;  but 
let  the  bairns  sing  to  me.  Let  them  sing  of  love,  and 
hope,  and  beauty — sing  as  the  birds  sing  in  the  garden, 
sing  as  the  angels  sing  around  the  throne,  sing  like  the 


772^^   CONVERSION  OF  CHILDREN  39 

herald  of  the  dewdrop  and  the  carol  of  the  dawn,  sinj^  like 
the  morning  stars  that  sing  together,  and  the  sons  of  God 
that  shout  for  joy. 


IX.     The    Conversion    of   Children.     By    Rev.    W. 

Brock. 

What  is  the  object  that  gives  so  much  interest  and  im- 
portance to  our  meeting  t  It  is  that  God  would  take  our 
children  and  incline  them  to  consecrate  themselves  to  a 
life  of  faith  upon  the  Son  of  God,  that  He  would  deliver 
them  from  the  power  of  darkness  and  translate  them  into 
the  kingdom  of  His  dear  Son  ;  and  this,  my  dear  friends, 
supposes  that  our  children  are  not  naturally  what  they 
ought  to  be,  that  they  are  not  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  Lord  Almighty  by  natural  birth.  We  should  put  this 
before  our  minds,  and  keep  it  there — not  overlooking  the 
excellencies  which  no  father  or  mother  can  fail  to  admire  ; 
not  overlooking  the  charming  and  attractive,  which  I  think 
it  would  be  a  parental  sin  not  to  admire.  No  ;  as  we  look 
upon  the  noble,  and  the  graceful,  and  the  frank,  and  the 
simple,  and  the  ingenuous,  at  the  various  stages  of  our  chil- 
dren's lives,  I  think  it  would  be  a  great  sin  not  to  be  thankful 
to  God  for  that  with  which  our  hearts  are  so  delighted  ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  we  must  recollect  that  each  one  of  those 
children  needs  the  renovating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and 
whilst  our  neighbours  may  speak  of  their  virtuous  parentage, 
and  of  their  godly  education,  yet  we  must  ever  bear  in  mind 
that  they  must  be  born  not  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  but  of  God.  It  was  not  to  profligate  and  licentious 
Gentiles,  but  to  those  who  had  the  highest  parentage  and 
education  in  the  world  at  the  time — it  was  to  Nicodemus 
and  his  countrymen — that  our  great  Lord  and  Master  said, 
"  Ye  must  be  born  again."  So  it  is  that  we  are  here  to- 
day, knowing,  let  us  hope,  what  it  is  to  be  ourselves  the 
children  of  God,  fain  to  lay  hold  of  Omnipotence  and 
bring  down  the  same  blessing  upon  our  children,  and  being 
determined  to  give  God  no  rest  till  we  have  rejoiced  over 
their  second  birth  even  more  exultingly  than  we  did  over 
their  first.  We  remember,  besides,  that  there  are  great 
obstacles  and  difficulties  in  the  way  of  this  new  nature,  and 


40  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

that  sometimes  they  are  apparently  insuperable.  The  very 
privileges  of  our  children  may  operate  to  their  prejudice, 
and  they  may  hear  it  said  that  we  ought  to  go  and  preach 
for  the  conversion  of  the  savages  of  Africa,  but  not  for  the 
conversion  of  children  born,  and  bred,  and  educated  as  they 
have  been.  There  are  books  which  teach  them  that,  and 
there  are  preachings  which  teach  them  that,  if  so  be  they 
should  be  so  unhappy  as  to  hear  them.  There  is  a  ten- 
dency in  the  mercies  themselves  to  suppress  the  proper 
anxiety  which  they  ought  to  feel ;  and,  when  once  this 
mistake  is  made,  how  many  influences  there  are  to  confirm 
it !  The  present  is  always  more  effectual  than  the  future  ; 
things  seen  over-ride  and  shut  out  the  proper  force  of  things 
which  are  unseen,  and  our  children  must  strive,  and  contend, 
and  wrestle,  if  so  be  they  break  away  from  that  which  is 
natural,  so  as  to  lay  hold  upon  and  practise  that  which  is 
spiritual.  The  very  amenities  of  life, — and  our  children 
must  not  be  shut  out  from  them  in  sour  and  repulsive  tones, 
or  by  stern  and  iron  resolutions — become  another  decoy  to 
irreligiousness,  and  all  whereby  they  are  surrounded,  even 
the  things  in  which  they  may  properly  engage,  tend,  unless 
there  be  some  counteracting  power,  to  lead  them  captives 
at  the  world's  will.  Therefore  it  is  that  we  are  here  to-day, 
and  it  is  only  God  who  can  give  us  the  blessing  we  need. 
We  are  here  to  acknowledge  our  dependence  upon  Him  for 
that  choicest  of  all  favours  in  which  a  father  or  a  mother 
can  rejoice — to  kneel  down  with  your  son,  and  hear  him 
pray,  or  to  know  what  a  messenger  of  mercy  your  daughter 
is  to  the  dying  and  to  those  who  are  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins.  I  take  it  that  this  is  the  highest  gratification  which 
even  the  regenerate  heart  can  feel,  and  that  it  is  hardly 
second  to  heaven  itself,  but  it  may  be  hoped  for  despite  all 
difficulties,  for  "  It  is  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by 
My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  ;  "  and  if  we  honour  Him  as  we 
are  honouring  Him  to-day,  we  shall  assuredly  find  that  he 
that  honoureth  the  Spirit,  the  Spirit  will  also  honour.  If 
He  were  capricious,  as  some  people  preach,  it  would  be  a 
different  thing;  but  He  is  righteous.  If  He  were  inexorable, 
it  would  be  a  different  thing  ;  but  He  is  compassionate.  If 
He  had  no  sympathy  with  parental  solicitude,  it  would  be 
a  different  thing ;  but  He  is  instinct  with  sympathy  with 
parental  solicitude.    If  we  were  not  sure  of  His  presence,  it 


THE   CONVERSION  OF  CHILDREN  41 

would  be  a  different  thing  ;  but  we  are  here  honouring  His 
promise,  and  He  bids  us  not  be  afraid,  but  only  to  believe, 
because,  although  there  may  be  difficulties  in  our  unregen- 
erate  nature,  and  though  we  meet  with  so  much  to  dis- 
hearten us,  yet  greater  is  He  that  is  for  us  than  all  those 
who  are  against  us.  Our  coming  here  is  to  acknowledge 
our  dependence  upon  Him,  to  importune  Him  to  grant  us 
the  blessing,  and  then  to  abide  in  the  full  assurance  of  hope 
that  the  blessing  will  be  vouchsafed,  for  we  are  praying  not 
in  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear,  but  with  the  spirit  of 
adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  "Abba,  Father,"  not  dreading 
that  we  shall  fail,  but  being  assured  that  we  shall  succeed. 
How  pleasant  and  how  Scriptural  it  was  to  offer  thanks- 
givings, as  we  did  just  now,  for  answers  to  prayer  already 
received,  for  we  are  told  in  everything  by  prayer  and  sup- 
plication, with  thanksgiving,  to  make  known  our  requests 
unto  God.  We  are  often  so  extremely  importunate  for  a 
blessing,  and  almost  as  extremely  careless  when  the  bless- 
ing has  come.  We  have  thanked  this  morning  as  well  as 
prayed  ;  and  let  me  say  for  the  comfort  of  any  friends  here 
who  may  be  broken-hearted  or  dispirited,  that  in  all  my 
ministerial  life  it  has  been  a  constant  source  of  delight  to 
me  to  see  how  parental  prayer  has  been  answered.  I  have 
known  family  after  family  where,  without  exception,  the 
whole  have  been  brought  to  God,  and  are  now  walking  in 
all  His  commandments  blameless.  I  have  known  instances 
where  there  has  been  a  long  deferment  of  the  hope,  but 
where  God  has  made  good  His  word  after  all,  sometimes 
even  when  the  father  and  the  mother  have  been  among  the 
sainted  ones  in  glory.  I  remember  a  group  of  nine  of  us 
gathering,  in  my  early  life,  at  a  prayer-meeting  ;  seven  of 
us  on  comparing  notes  had  to  attribute  our  conversion  to 
our  mothers'  influence  and  prayers,  and  five  out  of  the  seven 
were  fatherless  boys,  of  whom  I  was  one.  I  say  to  widowed 
mothers  in  this  meeting  to-day.  Be  of  good  comfort,  my 
dear  friends  ;  there  is  a  special  blessing  to  the  fatherless 
and  the  widow,  and  that  blessing  has  never  been  mani- 
fested more  signally  than  in  the  answer  to  maternal, 
widowed  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  beloved  sons.  I  know 
a  man  now  living  in  a  green  old  age  in  Yorkshire,  who,  as 
a  boy,  was  brought  up  in  the  fear  of  God,  but  seemed  to 
be  utterly  unaffected  by  it.     He  was  the  only  son  of  his 


42  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK, 

mother,  and  she  was  a  widow.  At  last  he  determined  to 
run  away  from  his  mother ;  and  nobody  could  tell  how  it 
was,  except  that  God's  hand  was  in  it,  but  when  he  made 
up  his  bundle  of  clothes  to  take  with  him,  he  must  needs 
put  into  it  one  of  those  square,  old-fashioned  Bibles  which 
we  used  to  have  as  presents  in  our  childhood.  He  hid 
himself  away  in  a  ship  at  Bristol,  and  did  not  show  himself 
to  the  captain  till  they  were  out  into  the  Channel,  and  it 
was  too  late  to  send  him  ashore.  He  went  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean. It  was  at  the  time  of  the  wars  with  Bonaparte, 
and  he  was  impressed  on  board  one  of  the  King's  ships. 
He  went  on  for  years  in  a  state  of  the  most  entire  ungod- 
liness, his  poor  mother  having  given  him  up  for  lost.  One 
day  he  was  ill,  and  all  at  once  bethought  himself  of  his  old 
Bible,  which  he  had  not  seen  since  he  had  been  on  board 
that  ship  ;  he  read  some  of  the  passages  which  his  mother 
had  marked,  became  a  converted  man,  came  back  to  Eng- 
land, became  first  a  minister  of  Christ,  and  then  the  tutor 
of  a  college  ;  and  his  name  now  is  as  fragrant  ointment  to 
multitudes  among  us  who  know  what  that  man's  character 
is.  If  he  were  here,  he  would,  with  stammering  tongue — 
for  he  is  very  aged  and  full  of  infirmities — make  you  under- 
stand what  he  owes  to  his  mother's  prayers,  to  which,  as  he 
has  declared  to  me  hundreds  of  times,  he  attributes  his 
conversion.  Another  case,  and  I  shall  have  done.  A  man 
well  known  on  our  London  stage,  not  only  as  a  dramatic 
author,  but  as  a  man  of  high  pre-eminence  in  the  dramatic 
art  and  practice,  and  who,  thirty  years  ago,  was  in  this  me- 
tropolis running  an  entire  round  of  riot  and  of  revelry,  told 
me,  after  he  had  become  a  preacher  of  Christ's  Gospel,  that 
through  all  those  years  of  riot  and  revelry  in  connection 
with  the  stage  and  the  green-room  at  Covent  Garden  and 
other  places,  he  always  heard  his  mother's  voice  ringing  in 
his  ears.  Her  very  words,  and  the  tones  of  her  voice,  came 
to  his  recollection,  and  he  was  fairly  followed  by  his  mother 
long  after  she  had  gone  to  heaven.  It  ended  in  his  con- 
version, and  he  bade  me  tell  all  men  that  that  life  of  his 
had  been  continually  deteriorating  his  moral  nature  ;  and 
he  also  bade  me  tell  all  mothers  never  to  despair  of  an  un- 
godly son,  even  if  he  should  take  to  the  boards,  but  to  pray 
on,  and  hope  on,  and  believe  on.  Encouragement !  There  is 
the  amplest  and  the  richest  encouragement  for  all  who  will 


SYSTEMATIC  GIVING.  43 

recognise  their  dependence  upon  God,  who  will  earnestly 
seek  for  the  blessing,  and  whose  example  and  influence  at 
home  shall  be  in  harmony  with  that  blessing.  Let  us  do 
as  David  did  when  he  *'  returned  and  blessed  his  house." 
Our  meeting  here  to-day  is  only  subsidiary  to  our  great 
purpose  :  it  is  to  home  influence,  and  home  prayers,  and 
home  example  that  we  must  look.  Christian  brethren, 
let  your  prayers  in  your  household  be  genuine  prayers  ; 
transfuse  them  with  earnestness  for  those  who  are  kneel- 
ing with  you.  Let  them  not  be  mere  utterances  of  words, 
but  travail  in  birth  for  the  souls  of  your  children,  and  you 
shall  find,  as  so  many  of  us  have  done,  that  along  with  the 
fathers  there  shall  come  up  the  children,  a  seed  to  serve  the 
Lord,  and  a  generation  to  called  Him  blessed. 


X.      Systematic  Giving.     By  Rev.  Dr.  Dale. 

It  was  easy  to  secure  a  general  assent  to  two  of  the 
principles  of  giving — namely,  that  giving  should  be  con- 
scientious, and  that  it  should  bear  a  just  proportion  to  a 
man's  income.  But  when  they  proceeded  to  urge  that  it 
should  be  systematic  also,  they  were  met  with  grave  objec- 
tions. It  was  urged  by  some  that  giving  on  impulse  was 
far  nobler  than  giving  mechanically  and  on  system  ;  it  was 
urged  by  others  that  it  was  impossible  for  persons  whose 
income  varied  from  week  to  week  and  from  month  to 
month  to  devote  a  definite  portion  of  their  income  to  the 
service  of  God  and  the  poor.  If  a  man  gave  conscien- 
tiously, and  gave  proportionately,  they  could  not  complain ; 
but  how  was  it  possible  for  a  man  who  believed  that  he 
ought  to  give  a  fair  proportion  of  his  income  to  maintain 
the  worship  of  God,  to  diff"use  the  Gospel,  and  to  alleviate 
the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  to  feel  certain  that  he  did  that, 
if  he  did  not  give  systematically  ?  No  one  disputed  that 
the  larger  a  man's  income  was,  the  more  he  ought  to  give  ; 
but  it  seemed  to  him  an  inevitable  conclusion  that  the 
giving  ought  to  be  exactly  proportionate  to  their  means. 
There  were  many  persons  of  kindly  spirit  and  generous 
disposition,  the  amount  of  whose  giving  depended  on 
accidental  circumstances,  as,  for  example,  an  eloquent 
sermon  or  a  powerfully-written  appeal.     It  was  no  proof 


44  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

of  a  man's  having  given  enough  that  he  had  given  when  he 
was  asi^ed,  or  even  that  he  had  given  what  was  expected. 
If  he  ought  to  devote  a  certain  proportion  of  his  property 
to  God  and  the  poor,  he  ought  to  do  it  whether  he  was 
asked  or  not ;  he  ought  to  have  some  standard  below  which 
his  conscience  would  not  allow  him  to  fall,  and,  having 
fixed  the  proper  proportion  at  the  beginning  of  the  year, 
whether  appeals  were  made  to  him  or  not,  he  ought  to  take 
care  that  by  the  end  of  the  year  that  proportion  was  fully 
and  completely  given.  Some  persons  thought  it  quite 
enough  to  give  what  they  could  spare.  That  was  the  most 
curious  standard  conceivable.  Why,  he  never  took  up  a 
catalogue  of  books  without  seeing  the  names  of  some  that 
he  sadly  wanted.  He  never  saw  a  map  of  Europe  in  the 
summer  without  feeling  that  his  health  would  be  a  great 
deal  more  vigorous  if  he  could  see  in  the  autumn  the  Rhine 
or  the  Tiber,  the  Rhone  or  the  Danube.  He  never  passed 
the  window  of  a  toy-shop  without  seeing  something  that 
would  make  four  pairs  of  bright  eyes  at  home  look  a  great 
deal  brighter.  The  question,  What  could  be  spared  1  was 
one  by  which  duty  in  the  matter  of  giving  could  never 
be  rightly  determined.  As  regarded  the  proper  propor- 
tion to  be  given,  it  must  be  interesting  to  every  thoughtful 
man  to  observe  how  widely  the  practice  of  tithing  had  pre- 
vailed among  both  heathen  and  Christian  nations  as  well 
as  among  the  Jewish  people.  That  practice  existed  among 
the  ancient  people  of  Rome,  among  all  the  various  tribes 
of  ancient  Greece,  in  the  Greek  colonies  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  in  Carthage.  Under  the  Mosaic  economy  every  Jew 
had  to  give  at  least  two  tithes  of  his  property  for  God  and 
the  poor.  But  he  (Mr.  Dale)  did  not  feel  bound  by  the 
law  of  tithes.  It  seemed  to  him  that  while,  under  the  old 
dispensation,  God  gave  definite  rules  for  the  ordering  of 
human  conduct.  He  now  required  men  to  give  from  the 
principle  of  love.  In  the  absence  of  the  law  of  tithing  he 
thankfully  said  that,  "knowing  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ," 
it  became  them  to  consecrate  at  least  as  much  as  the  Jewish 
nation.  About  the  fourth  century  the  principle  of  tithing 
began  to  be  recognised  in  the  Christian  Church  :  it  was 
carried  out  subseqently  in  various  forms  ;  and  that  Society 
now  appealed  to  the  public  whether  the  practice  of  the 
Jews,  at  least  as  regarded  giving,  was  not  binding  upon 


SYSTEMATIC  GIVING.  45 

Christians.  It  had  been  said  that  to  stop  giving  by- 
impulse  would  be  to  rob  it  of  half  its  glory.  But  how  sad 
was  it  to  the  impulse  not  to  have  anything  to  give  when  a 
strong  appeal  was  made  !  and  on  that  account,  if  on  no 
other,  he  might  advocate  systematic  giving.  If  he  thought 
the  Society  likely  to  close  up  the  springs  of  impulse,  that 
was  certainly  the  last  time  he  should  ever  appear  on  its 
platform.  But  there  was  danger  in  impulse  if  it  did  not 
lead  to  suitable  action.  When  Christ's  heart  was  moved 
with  compassion.  He  healed  the  leper  and  multiplied  the 
five  loaves  into  provision  for  five  thousand  ;  and  there  they 
had  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  compassion  and 
beneficence  might  be  beautifully  blended.  As  for  impulse 
and  enthusiasm,  he  supposed  that  if,  after  the  Corinthians, 
in  response  to  Paul's  appeal,  had  laid  aside  according  to 
their  means,  they  had  wished  to  give  more,  the  Apostle 
would  scarcely  have  objected  ;  and,  in  the  like  manner,  in 
these  days  ladies  who  gave  their  two  guineas  for  a  new 
bonnet,  might,  if  they  pleased,  indulge  a  generous  impulse 
after  they  had  done  what  they  felt  bound  to  do  system- 
atically. Systematic  giving  meant  putting  a  loaf  in  the 
cupboard  where  there  was  none  ;  it  meant  circulating  the 
Bible  in  distant  lands  ;  it  meant  sending  more  missionaries 
to  India  and  China.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  in 
establishing  this  Society  its  founders  meant  to  bring  a 
charge  of  want  of  liberality  against  the  English  public 
generally.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  proud  of  the 
liberality  of  their  country,  and  especially  of  the  manner  in 
which  Englishmen  recently  gave  for  the  relief  of  Lanca- 
shire distress.  But  the  way  to  test  this  matter  was  to 
consider  the  pressing  wants  of  our  own  and  foreign  lands. 
They  wanted  to  secure  the  regular  progress  of  the  ship  by- 
means  of  the  screw  and  the  paddle  ;  and  if  impulse  after- 
wards filled  the  sails,  they  would  joyfully  hail  that  additional 
aid.  They  had  nothing  to  fear  as  a  nation  with  regard  to 
their  position  in  the  earth  ;  but  now  that  the  country 
was  absorbed  in  commerce,  let  its  old  enthusiasm  be 
renewed  in  the  wide-world  diffusion  of  the  Gospel,  and  in 
the  alleviation  of  human  misery  wherever  it  was  to  be 
found. 


46  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

XI.     Wesleyans    and    the    Church   of  England. 

By  the  Dean  of  Canterbury. 

It  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  be  present,  as  he  had  for 
years  entertained  the  greatest  respect  for  their  body.  He 
believed  that  to  them  was  due  very  much  of  the  life  now 
to  be  found  in  the  Church  of  England.  Were  John  Wesley 
now  to  return,  he  would  see  in  the  Church  an  earnestness 
and  real  godliness  which  in  his  time  were  crushed  out  by 
formalism.  He  felt  that  he  was  doing  nothing  more  than 
his  duty  in  offering  his  tribute  to  the  founder  of  their  body 
for  the  great  good  he  had  done  to  the  Church.  For  him- 
self he  believed  that  a  good  deal  was  gained  by  difference 
of  opinion.  They  were  treading  close  upon  the  heels  of 
the  Church  Missionary  Society,  but  he  had  no  narrow  feel- 
ing on  the  subject,  and  he  should  be  very  sorry  if  the  two 
societies  did  not  work  together  in  love.  He  hoped  that 
the  Society's  income  would  advance  to  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
but  of  course  he  or  his  friends  would  keep  ahead  if  they 
could.  They  had  the  Bible  in  common,  and  as  long  as 
they  followed  the  precepts  of  that  book,  they  would  not  be 
far  apart.  Speaking  of  the  advances  of  the  Papacy,  the 
Dean  said  :  "  There  is  that  w^onderful  revival  of  mediaeval 
superstition  amongst  us,  and  here  I  may  give  a  reason  why 
I  am  grateful  to  this  Society.  You  know  that  in  our  city 
of  Canterbury  we  have  lately  had  cardinals,  and  dukes, 
and  bishops,  and  all  sorts  of  people  come  down  to  open  a 
chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  (Thomas  a 
Becket,  as  we  know  him),  and  yet  the  Church  of  England 
has  not  done  anything  to  right  herself  But  your  body 
has,  because  you  have  done  something  at  Rome.  Under 
the  freedom  that  now  exists  in  Italy,  there  are  four  com- 
munities who  have  appointed  missionaries  at  Rome  ;  but 
the  Church  of  England  is  not  one  of  them,  therefore  they 
are  not  'avenging  me  of  mine  adversary,'  but  you  are. 
Under  the  walls  of  the  Vatican  you  have  established  in 
Rome  itself  a  mission  in  which  you  are  holding  up  that 
lamp  of  light  which  we  trust  both  the  Church  of  England 
and  your  body  are  holding  up  in  this  country  ;  therefore 
I  thank  you  for  carrying  to  Rome  that  light  which  those  at 
Canterbury  are  endeavouring,  if  not  altogether  to  put  out, 
at  least  to  darken.     Therefore  I  thank  you  very  much  for 


MISSION  WORK  IN  LONDON.  *  47 


the  mission  you  have  opened  at  Rome."  He  then  referred 
to  his  visit  to  America,  where  he  said  he  had  several  means 
of  seeing  the  greatness  of  their  position.  At  one  of  the 
meetings  of  the  EvangeHcal  AlHance  a  bishop  was  called 
upon  to  open  the  proceedings  with  prayer,  and  the  person 
who  rose  up  and  answered  this  was  a  negro  gentleman,  a 
bishop  in  the  Episcopal  Methodist  Church  of  America  ; 
and  a  more  simple,  well-arranged  prayer  was  not  offered 
durino-  the  whole  of  the  meeting  of  the  Alliance,  or  one  that 
was  more  thoroughly  Biblical.  Although  many  little  things 
had  happened  from  time  to  time  ruffling  tempers  on  both 
sides,  he  trusted  that  the  Wesleyans  and  the  Church  of 
England  would  in  faith,  love,  and  charity  unite  in  winning 
the  world  to  Christ. 


XII.  Mission  Work  in  the  City  of  London. 
By  Rev.  J.  P.  Chown. 

I  CANNOT  refuse  the  demand  which  you  have  made  upon 
me,  and  in  saying  a  few  words  to  you  I  should  like  to  take 
as  a  text  the  resolution  which  has  been  put  into  my  hands. 
The  text  is  the  committee,  and  allow  me  to  say  the  most 
important  thing  that  has  to  be  done  this  morning  is  the 
choice  of  the  committee,  because  whatever  may  be  said 
about  the  work  in  which  you  are  engaged,  the  committee 
are  the  men  to  do  it.  I  remember,  in  connection  with  the 
late  Arctic  expedition,  what  wonderful  pains  were  taken 
about  the  ships,  their  stores,  and  all  appertaining  to  their 
appointment ;  but  the  great  matter  was  about  the  men  by 
whom  the  officers  and  ships  were  to  be  manned.  It  was 
felt  that  the  success  of  the  expedition  would  depend  entirely 
upon  them.  We  all  know  if  there  is  any  work  of  special 
danger  or  honour,  there  must  be  picked  men  into  whose 
care'' it  shall  be  entrusted,  and  who  shall  feel  the  responsi- 
bility that  is  laid  upon  them.  Now  you  are  choosing  the 
committee  for  your  work  next  year  ;  I  want  you  to  feel 
that  in  doing  so  you  pledge  yourselves  to  render  them 
constant  and  generous  support.  You  ask  them  to  do  this 
great  and  glorious  work.  In  the  Bible  order  giving  is  put 
before  praying.  It  is  written  :  *'  Prayer  also  shall  be  made 
for  Him  continually,"  when  the  giving  has  been  attended 


48.  PLATFORM  AIDS^HOME    WORK. 

to  ;  "  Daily   also  shall   He   be  praised,"   for  the   spirit   of 
praise  is  sure  to  follow.     I  never  knew  a  giving  soul  and  a 
pra}'ing  soul  that  was  not  a  praising  soul.     I  never  knew  a 
Society  that  had  the  grace  of  giving  and  the  grace  of  pray- 
ing, that  laid   its  gifts    upon  the  altar  and  then   prayed 
"  Thy  kingdom  come,"  that  had  not  a  soul  full  of  praise, 
inspired  with  thankfulness  and  animated  with  joy.     I  want 
you  to  supply  the  golden  sinews  for  the  war  in  which  you 
are  calling  upon  your  committee  to  engage — a  holy  war 
to  which  they  are  pledging  themselves  with  every  form  of 
evil   with  which  they  may  have    to  grapple,  seeking  the 
deliverance  of  sinful   men,  and   the  advancement  of  the 
glory  of  God.     Then  I  want  you  to  feel  another  thing,  and 
that  is  that  you   pledge  yourselves   to  sustain  your   com- 
mittee  by  your  sympathy  and   prayer.     You  send  them 
as  officers  to  gather  together  your  forces,  and  to  marshal 
them  for  the  battle,  and  to  lead  them  on  under  the  standard 
of  the  Cross.     Be  it  yours   to  be  upon  the  mountain  of 
communion  with  God,  with  arms  uplifted  in   earnest  im- 
portunate prayer  that  shall  bring  down  a  blessing,  without 
which  the  bravest  spirit  may  never  win.     It  is  according 
to  the  prayer  on  the  hilltop  that  the  tide  of  battle  is  turned 
in  the  plain  ;  and  it  is  as  the  arms  are  uplifted  in  petition 
that  the  arms  that  wield  the  sword  and  wave  the  standard 
are  made  strong  in  the  mighty  power  of  God,  and  triumphant 
in  the  great  and  glorious  work.    You  send  your  committee 
and  the  noble  band  of  labourers  uncier  their  care  into  the 
waste,  the  desert  places  of  the  wilderness  around.     Be  it 
yours   to  be  like   Elijah   upon   the  slopes  of  your   Carmel 
Mount,  whence  you    shall    pray    to    God   who    sends    the 
showers  of  rain,  that  the  Divine   blessing  may  descend — 
nay,  that  He  may  come  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  He  shall  fall 
Hke  rain  upon  the  mown  grass,  and  the  wilderness  shall  be 
turned   into  a  fruitful   field,  and  the  fruitful  field  be  as  a 
garden  of  the  Lord."     I  ask  for  this,  brethren,  on  behalf  of 
your  committee,  because  they  are  men  who  are  worthy  of 
it.     They  are  tried  men  ;  you  know  it  in  their  character ; 
you  hear  it  in  their  words.     I  see  most  of  them  have  the 
very   becoming  sign   of  conventional  regard   in   the   Esq. 
added  to  the  name  ;  very  proper  and  right.     Well,  I  would 
give  them  a  diploma  this  morning,  and  I  would  ask  you  to 
acknowledge  it,  as  I  know  you  will.     I  would  put  at  the 


MISSION   WORK  IN  LONDON  49 

end  of  the  name  of  ev^eiy  one  of  them  T.  T. — tried  and 
true.  It  used  to  be  said  of  the  knights  in  the  olden  time 
that  they  won  their  spurs.  Why,  this  noble  band  of 
warriors  do  win  their  spurs  and  everything  appertaining 
to  the  noble  work  of  Christian  chivalry  in  which  they  are 
engaged  ofdevotedness  to  the  Master  to  whom  they  have 
given  themselves.  I  ask  this  from  you  because  they  are 
representative  men,  and  they  have  the  whole  Evangelical 
Church  of  Christ  embodied  amongst  themselves.  They 
have  within  them  the  different  departments  of  the  living 
Church  of  the  living  God  ;  and  there  is  not  one  of  you  but 
may  feel  that  the  interests  of  your  Church  are  represented 
in  them.  And  while  they,  therefore,  from  the  centre  of 
their  instrumentality  and  labour  extend  their  instrumen- 
tality, be  it  yours  from  the  circumference  in  every  part  of 
the  circle  to  gather  closely  to  the  centre  in  loving  sympathy 
and  prayer,  and  our  Lord's  petition  shall  be  answered  when 
He  said,  "  Father,  that  they  may  be  one  in  us,  as  Thou  in 
Me,  and  I  in  Thee."  That  is  Christian  union.  We  do  not 
always  understand  it — it  is  not  merely  one  with  another. 
I  do  not  think  much  of  that  unless  we  are  quite  sure  that 
it  is  done  in  the  right  spirit  ;  but  if  we  are  one  with  Christ, 
and  draw  down  the  light  that  comes  flowing  into  our  souls, 
we  are  sure  to  be  one  with  Him.  May  I  remind  you 
of  the  greatness  of  the  work  you  ask  these  gentlemen  to 
undertake  as  a  reason  why  prayer  should  be  given  on  its 
behalf  The  City  Mission  is  a  great  work  in  any  ordinary 
city  ;  but  the  London  City  Mission  is  one  the  magnitude 
of  whose  work  no  thought  can  conceive,  and  no  passion  or 
zeal  that  is  merely  human  can  ever  adequately  estimate. 
We  feel  that  we  are  doing  a  Divine  work  in  "  beginning 
at  Jerusalem."  We  are  to  go  to  the  distant  parts  of  the 
earth,  but  it  must  be  "  beginning  at  Jerusalem."  Has  it 
ever  occurred  to  you  to  remember  with  what  Divine  sym- 
pathy and  interest  God  seems  to  look  upon  great  cities  } 
He  would  have  spared  the  cities  of  the  plain  if  only  ten 
righteous  men  could  have  been  found,  though  in  the  lowest 
cottage  within  their  boundaries  ;  unknow^n,  or,  if  known, 
only  to  be  despised  by  the  myriads  who  were  spared 
because  they  were  amongst  them.  Do  you  not  remember 
how  He  sent  His  servant  down  to  ancient  Nineveh,  and 
how  He  accepted  their  repentance  when  they  prostrated 

S 


50  PLATFORM  AIDS- HO  ME    WORK. 

themselves  before  Him  ;  and  though  the  poor  weak  servant 
was  ofiended,  the  infinitely  holy  God  was  pleased  with  their 
repentance,  and  pardoned  their  sin,  and  saved  them  from 
the  threatening  that  had  been  denounced  ?  Do  we  not 
remember  how  the  Divine  Lord  sat  there  upon  Mount 
Olivet,  how  tears  streamed  from  those  eyes  for  those  who 
never  wept  for  themselves,  as  He  thought  of  the  doom  that 
was  coming  upon  them  ?  We  know  that  God  is  interested 
in  London,  and  we  know  it  as  truly  as  we  know  it  of  those 
ancient  cities  and  of  Jerusalem.  The  very  state  of  things 
proves  it  must  be  so,  and  God  has  shown  it  in  His  dealings 
with  us.  And  oh,  remembering  the  vastness  of  the  field, 
one  which  no  arithmetic  can  calculate,  and  no  geographical 
boundaries  can  ever  fill  up,  calling  to  mind  that  though, 
more  than  any  city  in  the  world,  it  may  be  famed  for  its 
philanthropical  and  Christian  institutions,  still  what  far- 
stretching  wastes  there  are  of  dreary  ignorance,  and  suffer- 
ing, and  sin,  and  death  that  scarcely  seem  to  be  touched, 
and  what  myriads  there  are  who  seem  to  be  living  in  the 
midst  of  it  all  unnoticed  by  any  save  our  missionaries  1 
Look  at  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  city,  to  be  computed 
by  millions  almost  within  the  memory  of  living  men  ;  and 
if  we  feel  that  a  great  city  commands  our  concern,  what 
shall  we  say  of  that  which  is  a  world  rather  than  a  city,  an 
aggregate  of  cities  rather  than  a  city  itself,  and  which 
absorbs  a  great  city  into  its  population  every  year  ?  And 
then  remember  the  influence  that  appertains  to  London. 
London  won  to  Christ,  the  world  is  won  to  Christ.  London 
brought  to  the  feet  of  the  Saviour  should  be  like  the  great 
mountain  the  prophet  spoke  of,  in  our  land  and  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  to  which  all  nations  should  say,  "Come, 
and  let  us  go  to  the  house  of  the  Lord  ; "  and,  catching 
the  sun's  bright  beams,  shall  flash  them  forth  on  all  the 
earth,  and  the  showers  of  heaven  and  streams  from  the 
mountain  being  poured  in  living  torrents  upon  the  earth 
beneath,  the  Divine  glory  shall  be  manifested,  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  all 
men  shall  call  Him  blessed. 


HOME  MISSIONS.  51 


XIII.   Home  Missions.     ^^' Rev.  Herber  Evans. 

On  my  railway  route  up  here  I  passed  a  very  extensive 
nursery-garden — a  large  plot  of  ground  set  apart  for  the 
propagation  of  all  kinds  of  plants,  shrubs,  and  young  trees. 
This  nursery  needs  constant  care,  incessant  watchfulness, 
and  careful  gardening.  It  contains  the  reserve  stock  of 
young  plants  for  supplying  failure  by  disease,  accident, 
and  death  in  all  the  surrounding  gardens,  and  private  as 
well  as  public  parks.  They  are  all  indebted  and  they  all 
look  to  the  nursery-garden  for  their  supply.  You  in 
London  have  heard  the  cheering  news  of  the  success  of 
the  missionaries  in  the  foreign  fields,  in  the  British  colonies, 
and  the  distant  isles.  To-night,  sir,  we  have  met  to  look 
after  the  nursery-garden,  to  which  they  are  all  indebted. 
Neglect  this,  and  when  your  missionaries,  and  colpor- 
teurs, and  Bible  translators  fall  in  the  far-off  field  of 
battle,  who  shall  take  up  the  weapons  dropping  from 
their  dying  hands  ?  We  must  now,  as  of  old  begin  at 
Jerusalem.  The  Home  Church  must  first  be  endued 
with  power  from  on  high,  else  she  can  only  send  forth  a 
vacillating  Peter,  and  a  doubting  Thomas.  But  once  the 
Holy  Ghost  comes  upon  us  at  the  starting-point,  then  the 
very  same  men  are  witnesses,  apostles,  martyrs,  ready  for 
all  Judea,  Samaria,  and  unto  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth. 
We  in  Wales  have  learnt  not  to  neglect  our  most  insig- 
nificant, our  most  out-of-the-way  little  Bethels,  because 
although  they  cannot  give  us  a  large  collection  towards 
our  colleges  and  public  movements,  yet  our  greatest 
preachers  have  come  from  our  small  chapels,  from  these 
little  flocks  in  Israel.  How  can  you  expect  young  men 
to  commence  preaching  in  these  large  churches,  full  of  I 
don't  know  how  many  doctors  and  critics?  I  should  like 
to  know  how  many  of  you  have  tried  it.  No,  a  man  likes 
to  try  his  wings  in  the  village  chapel — the  country  sanc- 
tuary. Trawsfynyd  in  the  mountains  gave  us  our  Williams, 
and  Llansanan,  that  never  heard  a  railway  whistle,  gave 
us  our  Henry  Rees,  and  if  a  collecting-book  for  one  of 
these  little  interests  happens  to  come  in  your  way — some- 
times, we  do  a  little  in  that  way — well,  don't  throw  it 
aside — it  may  be  towards  a  small  cause  which  will  nurse 
a  man  who  will  shake  the  world.     When  a  late  candidate 


52  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

for  the  representation  of  Liverpool — I  wish  I  could  have 
said  more— visited  some  landed  property  in  the  country 
the  other  day,  a  faithful  brother  had  been  on  the  watch  for 
him,  with  his  collecting-book  ready.  He  saw  him  climb- 
ing one  of  our  hills,  followed  him,  and  caught  him  just 
as  he  got  to  the  "  Rest  and  Be  Thankful,"  and  having 
presented  his  book,  Mr.  Caine,  like  a  noble-hearted 
Englishman  and  a  Christian,  received  it  with  glee,  and 
shouted  to  his  father-in-law  climbing  after  him,  "See,  a 
collecting-book  has  found  me  on  the  top  of  a  mountain 
in  Wales,"  and  Mr.  Caine  can  now,  I  believe,  claim  the 
honour  of  having  subscribed  to  a  chapel  cause  on  a  higher 
ground  and  nearer  to  heaven  than  any  man  in  Great 
Britain.  I  say  again  that  these  small  nurseries  of  our 
great  preachers  and  greater  missionaries  must  not  be 
neglected.  Truro,  in  Cornwall,  must  not  be  neglected, 
else  there  will  be  no  Henry  Martyn  to  translate  the  New 
Testament  to  the  Persians.  If  you  wish  another  William 
Jones  for  India,  the  nursery-garden  at  Llanwrin  must  not 
be  overlooked.  A  sickly  and  bedwarfed  Christianity  at 
home  will  never  furnish  the  requisite  labourers  or  the 
necessary  funds  for  the  work  in  the  foreign  fields.  What 
can  we  do,  then,  to  make  this  Society  a  greater  power  } 
We  can  strengthen  and  intensify  our  own  conceptions  of 
duty.  Take  a  Monday  morning  provincial  newspaper, 
and  see  the  amount  of  drunkenness,  brutality,  and  wife- 
kicking  that  takes  place  from  Saturday  night  until  Mon- 
day morning.  Let  any  one  read  the  black  list,  and  tell 
me  that  this  Home  Missionary  Society  is  not  wanted  ! 
Yes,  with  its  power  increased  a  thousand-fold.  Why,  sir, 
the  very  men  who  despise  our  work  are  great  glorifiers 
of  every  other  attempt  to  lessen  physical  evils.  They  are 
prodigal  of  their  praise  when  speaking  about  vaccination 
and  chloroform  reducing  to  one-third  the  physical  evils 
suffered  by  our  fathers.  But  how  niggard  they  are  of  their 
recommendation  where  a  Home  Missionary  gives  his  life 
to  lessen  these  brutalities,  to  diminish  the  immoralities  by 
leading  men  and  women  to  a  higher,  nobler.  Christian  life, 
which  does  and  must  bring  with  it  freedom  from  suffering. 
What  can  we  do  ?  We  ought  to  endeavour  to  make  all 
our  Churches — what,  in  fact,  the  first  Churches  were — 
local    missionary   associations.    -  There  are  the  classes  in 


HOME  MISSIONS.  53 


our  Churches  of  which  much  more  can  be  made  in  this 
direction.  First,  the  children.  Is  it  not  possible  to  pro- 
duce an  enticing,  fascinating  missionary  catechism  to  teach 
all  the  children  of  our  Churches  .?  We  have  Band  of  Hope, 
temperance,  and  theological  catechisms  without  number, 
and  they  have  done  good  service.  I,  sir,  never  could  learn 
history  until  I  got  it  in  a  catechism.  A  question  always 
provokes  a  lad  to  look  for  the  answer.  Why  should  we  be 
more  anxious  that  our  children  should  know  how  America 
became  free  and  Germany  became  one,  than  to  know  how 
Polynesia  was  civilized  and  South  Africa  civilized  ?  Why 
should  they  know  about  Prince  Bismarck  and  George 
Washington,  more  than  about  John  Williams,  George 
Whitfield,  and  Robert  Moffat .?  Let  us  get  a  fascinating 
missionary  catechism,  giving  all  the  heroic  names  and 
deeds  of  all  the  missionaries  of  Jesus,  not  of  one  denom- 
ination, not  of  the  foreign  field  only,  but  of  every  field  and 
every  name.  Let  us  educate  them  in  this  historic  creed, 
and  they  will  know,  and  they  will  feel,  and  they  will 
sympathise,  they  will  help,  and  we  shall  neither  want 
money  nor  have  failure.  Then  come  our  ladies,  sir,  a 
great  power,  lying  dormant  in  almost  every  Church.  Is 
it  possible  that  we  are  afraid  to  call  forth  this  powerful 
female  help,  lest  it  overwhelm  us  or  perhaps  outshine  us  ? 
I  am  glad  to  see  in  your  report  a  call  for  female  mission- 
aries to  visit  mothers  to  urge  them  to  send  their  children 
to  the  Sunday  and  day  schools.  Not,  alas  !  as  a  minister, 
but  as  a  member  of  a  School  Board,  I  can  say  "Amen  "  to 
that.  We  have  no  need  to  fear  the  light,  and  we  wish 
to  see  our  children  educated.  A  traveller  once  passed  a 
gentleman's  park,  and  saw  a  notice  on  a  board,  "  Every 
dog  found  in  this  park  will  be  shot  at  once."  "  Upon  my 
word,"  says  the  traveller,  "it  is  a  serious  thing  for  dogs  in 
this  neighbourhood  if  they  can't  read."  The  man  had  an 
idea,  sir,  that  even  dogs  ought  to  know  the  laws  con- 
cerning themselves.  But  it  is  far  more  serious  for  a  man 
if  he  cannot  read  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth  that  bear 
upon  himself.  We  call,  then,  for  female  missionaries  every- 
where, to  try  and  teach  them  the  laws  of  God  and  man. 
Let  our  Protestant  mothers  and  sisters  give  the  lie  to  that 
assertion  that  it  is  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  alone  that 
can  kindle  their  charity,  labour,   and  perseverance.     Oh, 


54  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK. 

for  the  love  of  Mary,  blended  with  the  diligence  of  Martha, 
the  spirit  of  holy  women  of  old,  of  those  true  brave 
women  who  followed  Christ  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem, 
ministering  to  Him,  and  who  wept  at  the  cross,  and  watched 
at  the  sepulchre  when  Judas  had  proved  a  traitor  and  Peter 
a  coward  !  Women  who  adhered,  who  clung  to  Him  and 
His  cause  when  all  the  world  had  deserted  Him — oh,  that 
God  would  fill  our  Churches  with  such  women  again  ! 
There  is  another  class  lying  dormant  in  our  Churches, 
possessing  great  unexercised  power — I  mean  those  religious 
stewards  who  always  have  plenty  of  time  to  look  after 
others,  because  they  have  nothing  to  do  themselves.  They 
always  speak  of  Christian  workers  in  the  Church  in  the 
third  person  plural.  They  never  say  "  we  ; "  no,  they 
keep  themselves  separate,  in  order  to  have  the  right  to 
grumble  at  the  work  of  everybody  else.  Don't  you  know 
them }  Blessed  is  your  experience  then  if  you  do  not. 
Ask  one  of  them  to  pray  ;  and  he  will  complain,  and 
whine,  and  grumble  for  five  minutes  before  he  thanks  God 
for  anything.  He  has  marked  the  weeds  in  the  whole 
garden,  but  has  missed  every  flower  with  its  sweetness  and 
beauty.  He  knows  every  Judas  within  a  ten  miles  cir- 
cumference, but  he  has  not  seen  a  single  John  anywhere. 
Do  as  you  will,  you  cannot  please  his  class.  They  are  like 
that  cross-grained  old  farmer  who  caught  a  young  girl 
going  through  his  field.  "Who  gave  you  leave  to  go 
through  that  field  ?  "  "  I  thought  there  was  a  path."  "  A 
path;  no,  there  is  not."  "I'll  go  back  then."  ''Back, 
indeed !  I  own  back  and  fore."  So  she  could  not  move 
to  please  him.  So  of  these  idlers  who  are  at  large  in  Zion 
— the  religious  grumblers  of  our  congregations.  You  can 
never  please  them.  If  you  come  back  you  are  not  doing 
right ;  if  you  go  forward  you  are  doing  wrong.  Oh,  that 
they  would  all  unite  to  start  a  cause  of  their  own  !  I 
seriously  say  that  would  be  the  only  means  of  enabling 
them  to  taste  the  joy  of  serving  Christ,  and  to  bless  their 
generation.  All  members  of  our  Churches  who  are  not 
Christian  workers  are  great  hindrances  to  earnest  labourers, 
and  as  lookers  on,  they  are  miserable  themselves.  Bos- 
well  was  once  on  board  a  vessel  in  a  violent  storm,  and, 
like  myself,  was  a  very  indifferent  sailor,  and  as  the  ship 
began  pitching  and  tossing  he  rushed  from  sailor  to  sailor 


HOME  MISSIONS.  55 

asking,  "  Are  we  in  danger  ?  "  and,  of  course,  hindering 
them  in  their  work.  One  of  the  sailors,  who  was  a  bit  of 
a  philosopher,  at  last  said  to  him  :  "  Yes,  we  are  in  terrible 
danger.  Hold  this  rope  ;  the  ship  is  nearly  sinking."  He 
held  it  with  all  his  might  until  the  storm  was  over.  The 
sailor  released  him,  saying,  "  There,  now,  you  have  been 
holding  a  useless  rope  ;  but  it  has  kept  you  out  of  the 
way,  and  made  you  happy."  If  we  wish  to  add  to  the 
peace  and  joy  of  our  Churches,  if  we  wish  to  treble  their 
power  of  good,  let  us  endeavour  to  get  every  member  to 
lay  hold  of  a  rope,  to  do  some  work.  Let  us  all  stand  up 
for  Jesus.  Every  Christian  worker  should  be  like  an 
orange  tree,  fragrant  as  well  as  faithful.  The  constant 
complaint  is  want  of  men,  and  especially  want  of  the 
right  men — men  who  can  talk,  and  men  who  have  some- 
thing to  talk  about.  We  had  an  old  Welsh  preacher,  Mr. 
Chairman,  full  of  what  we  call  hwyl,  and  that  word  is,  like 
many  other  Welsh  things,  untranslatable  into  English  ; 
but  Jiwyl  means  inspiration — in  the  spirit  to  speak ;  and 
this  old  brother  once  said  in  the  pulpit,  "  Oh,  I  arn  in  the 
spirit,  in  the  hwyl  to  preach,  if  I  had  only  something  to 
say  !  "  A  man  who  can  talk,  and  who  has  nothing  to  say, 
soon  becomes  a  bore.  You  want  men  who  can  think,  and 
who  will  dare  to  say  what  they  think,  though  they  have 
never  heard  it,  nor  seen  it  in  a  book  before — men  who 
believe  that  the  Spirit  inspires  now.  It  used  to  be  the 
custom  in  Wales  years  ago  to  accommodate  the  ministers 
at  the  homes  of  all  the  well-to-do  farmers  in  every  Church 
month  by  month.  The  children  were  then  brought  into 
contact  with  the  ministers,  and  there  was  no  dearth  of 
splendid  preachers.  Now,  however — and  it  is  something 
for  you  to  get  a  Welshman  to  confess  a  fall  off  in  any- 
thing in  beautiful  Wales — we  have  now  fallen  to  imitate 
our  English  neighbours,  by  appointing  a  settled  house  to 
accommodate  the  preachers,  and  having  thought  seriously 
of  this — I  hope  my  words  will  ring  through  the  Princi- 
pality— I  say,  "  Open  your  doors  again  to  the  men  of  God 
who  preach  the  Gospel  among  you."  Remember  the 
Divine  admonition — "  Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  stran- 
gers, for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  unawares." 
When  I  was  a  lad  I  was  a  member  of  a  small  country 
chapel.      We   could   only    afford    to    get   one   sermon   a 


56  PLATFORM  AIDS— HOME    WORK, 

Sabbath,  and  the  remuneration  for  that  one  was  always  a 
shilling.  Well  do  I  remember  my  first  sermon  in  that 
chapel,  and  that  wonderful  shilling  !  Nevertheless,  out  of 
that  little  sanctuary  in  my  time  have  come  forth  over  a 
dozen  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  We  were  all  taught  to 
respect  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  They  came  to  our 
houses  and  spoke  to  us  of  Jesus,  until  it  became  our 
highest  ambition  to  serve  the  same  Master.  I  rejoice  to 
think  of  the  showers  of  blessing  now  descending  on  the 
Churches  connected  with  your  Society,  because  I  have 
always  found  that  every  revival  in  the  Principality  always 
replenishes  us  with  a  new  stock  of  ministers  full  of  fire 
and  of  faith  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Old  Williams,  of  Troed- 
rhiwdalar,  who  left  us  the  other  day — (I  knew  him  well) — ■ 
after  preaching  the  Gospel  with  great  power  for  seventy- 
five  years  :  many  a  time  I  have  heard  him  break  forth  in 
the  midst  of  his  sermon,  "  You  must  excuse  my  warmth 
and  enthusiasm  ;  I  am  one  of  the  children  of  the  old 
revival  at  Llanwrtyd."  He  deemed  it  a  sufficient  ex- 
planation. Why,  he  could  not  speak  of  Jesus  in  his  96th 
year  without  bubbling  over  with  love,  joy,  and  hwyl.  "  I 
am  a  child  of  the  old  revival  at  Llanwrtyd."  Oh,  for 
thousands  of  such  children  as  the  fruit  of  this  revival  now  ! 
Men  born  into  the  kingdom  in  the  midst  of  strong  faith, 
with  the  love  of  God  kindled  within  them  into  a  flame  of 
such  inextinguishable  brilliance  and  power  that  will  glow 
and  burn  unto  the  end  of  a  long  patriarchal  life.  This 
resolution  requests  the  prayers  of  the.  meeting.  Then  we 
do  still  believe  in  prayer  ?  Yes,  more  firmly  than  ever. 
This  revival  wave  is  spreading  ;  we  have  heard  of  it  to- 
night in  Devonshire,  Somersetshire,  Hampshire,  and  Dur- 
ham, and  it  is  passing  over  parts  of  the  Principality.  The 
challenge  was  boldly  asked  as  in  the  days  of  Job,  "What 
profit  should  we  have  if  we  pray  to  Him  "i  "  The  answer  is 
coming  down,  sir,  from  the  everlasting  God  as  it  always 
will  come  down,  if  there  are  only  men  full  of  faith  to 
accept  the  challenge.  Yes,  the  answer  is  descending  in 
showers  of  blessing  throughout  the  land.  The  Lord  of 
Hosts  is  with  us,  blessing  the  evangelists  as  the  flying 
column  sent  forth  to  do  quick  and  effectual  service,  blessing 
also  the  standing  army  of  the  disciplined  ministry  needed 
to  carry  on  the   continued   warfare.     Let  each  one  con- 


MISSIONARY  QUALIFICATIONS.  57 

secrate  his  best  to  the  Lord,  believing  that  there  is  a  day 
of  retrospect  to  come  for  us  in  this  world,  and  a  day  of 
reckoning,  a  day  of  grand  review  in  the  next.  Let  every- 
one present  say,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Guthrie's  favourite 
motto, 

"  I  live  for  those  that  love  me, 
For  those  that  know  me  true, 
For  the  heaven  that  smiles  above  me, 
And  waits  my  coming,  too. 

"  For  the  cause  that  needs  assistance, 
For  the  wrongs  that  need  resistance, 
For  the  future  in  the  distance, 
For  the  good  that  I  can  do." 


II.  FOREIGN    MISSIONS. 

I.     Missionary    Qualifications.     By  the  Right  Rev. 
Bishop  Ellicott. 

These  are  days  in  which  we  hear  strange  things  indeed 
said  as  to  the  qualifications  of  those  who  shall  go  forth 
into  the  great  mission  field.  I  am  sure  that  at  any  rate 
I  may  unreprovedly  say  that  there  are  two  very  serious 
heresies  on  this  subject-=-tvvo  real  missionary  heresies, 
which  here  we  cannot  but  deeply  deprecate,  and  one  of 
them  is  this — ''  Civilize  first  and  Christianize  afterwards." 
How  often  do  we  hear  this  heresy  put  forward,  sometimes 
with  simple  and  good  intentions,  and  with  a  belief — an 
innocent  belief— that  in  the  natural  order  of  things  it  must 
be  so ;  sometimes,  I  fear,  with  other  and  very  different 
motives.  But,  I  ask,  can  we  here  tolerate  any  such  senti- 
ment ?  What !  is  Christ,  our  Master  and  King,  to  wait 
until  the  merchantman  has  made  the  way  before  Him? 
Oh,  no,  my  friends,  civilize  first  and  Christianize  after- 
wards is  one  of  those  expressions  in  regard  to  missionary 
labour  which  we  shall  all,  and  especially  in  these  times 
when  we  hear  it  produced  in  so  many  different  ways, 
utterly  and  distinctly  disavow.  .  It  is  quite  right  that 
the  Christian  missionary  should  likewise  be  himself  the 
pioneer  of  civilization.     Let  civilization   go  forward   with 


58  PLATFORM  AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Christianity— blessed  by  Christianity — but  never  let  the 
one — civilization — be  placed  before  the  other.  I  may  here 
say  that  we  are  acting  on  the  principle  I  have  mentioned. 
Our  missionaries  are  now  recognising  that  their  duty  is 
first  of  all  to  preach  Christ  crucified,  and  then,  also,  to 
do  everything  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  puts  into  their 
souls  in  the  way  of  raising  the  heathen  people  among 
whom  they  labour.  Both  must  go  together,  but  Christian- 
izing and  Christianity  ever,  ever  first.  The  second  heresy, 
as  I  may  venture  to  call  it,  in  regard  to  the  missionary 
labour,  and  against  which  the  noble  sentence  I  have  read 
to  you  is  a  distinct  protest,  may  be  thus  briefly  formulated: 
"  Teach  those  with  whom  you  have  to  deal  by  showing 
them  that  Christianity  is  somewhat  better  than  the  religion 
that  the  people  you  are  speaking  to  may  profess."  This 
is  a  more  deadly  heresy,  my  dear  friends,  than  the  one  I 
have  just  alluded  to  ;  for  what  is  it  but  putting  in  com- 
petition with  other  religions  the  one  true  and  only  religion 
- — the  belief  in  our  Lord  and  Master.  And  here  I  would 
say,  let  no  one  think  that  I  am,  as  it  were,  fighting 
shadows.  Have  we  not  heard,  not  so  very  long  ago,  lec- 
tures in  time-honoured  edifices  pointing  in  this  direction  } 
Have  we  not  seen  Christianity  often  placed  on  a  kind  of 
level  very  little  above  that  of  other  religions,  and  are  we 
not  told  that  the  way  in  which  our  missionaries  may  most 
successfully  work  is  to  acquire  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  religions,  and,  in  fact,  to  show  how  Christianity  is 
a  kind  of  improvement  upon  them.  Now,  my  friends,  God 
forbid  that  our  missionaries  should  ever  act  in  such  a  spirit 
as  this.  Good  it  is,  God  knoweth,  and  useful  is  it  to  study, 
especially  in  some  of  the  more  cultivated  nations,  the 
forms  of  ancient  faith.  I  will  say  at  once,  in  regard  even  of 
my  poor  self  and  my  own  poor  thoughts  on  this  subject, 
that  some  of  the  most  fruitful  hours  of  my  passing  life 
have  been  spent  in  reading,  with  a  kind  of  wonder  and  of 
awe,  some  of  the  ancient  hymns,  say,  in  a  work  now  hoar 
with  the  rime  of  forty  centuries — the  "  Rig- Veda  " — a  book 
of  Brahmanic  praise.  I  make  no  pretence,  but  through 
the  medium  of  translations  I  have  read,  and  wondered  as 
I  read,  the  marvellous  ethics  of  some  of  the  great  Bud- 
dhist treatises— say  such  an  old  one  as  "  The  Pathway  of 
Virtue."     I   have   read  and   I  have  wondered,  and  I  have 


MISSIONARY  QUALIFICATIONS.  59 

felt  that  God  has  never  left  Himself  without  a  witness  in 
the  human  heart  ;  nay,  I  have  read,  too,  and  that  not  with- 
out profit,  some  of  those  wondrous  hymns  and  invocations 
which  the  reader  will  find  in  that  strange,  strange  book  of 
religion,  the  "  Zend-Avesta  "  of  the  now  dying-out  Par- 
sees.  I  feel  too  much  sympathy  to  denounce  such  studies 
as  those,  but  I  do  earnestly  protest  against  that  mode  of 
reasoning  and,,  thinking  in  regard  to  missionary  matters 
which  places  our  own  religion  in  any  degree  of  comparison 
or  relation  to  others.  My  dear  friends,  let  the  missionary 
acquire  that  knowledge,  for  I  believe  it  will  be  good  and 
useful  to  him  ;  but  let  him  know  that  the  knowledge  for 
which  he  has  to  work  in  the  hearts  of  those  to  whom  he 
speaks  is  one  only — it  is  Christ  crucified.  What  he  has  to 
preach  is  that  to  which  every  human  heart  will  listen — 
every  human  heart — redemption.  Redemption  is  that 
which  the  missionary  must  bear — redemption  through 
Christ  crucified  is  His  message,  and  this  message  he  must 
preach  as  though  it  were  different  in  degree,  in  kind,  in 
everything  from  every  other  message  that  the  world  has 
yet  received.  I  think  that  of  all  the  mysteriously  strange 
thoughts  that  can  occupy  our  minds,  none  is  more  strange 
or  more  mysterious  than  this — how  such  a  religion  as 
Mohammedanism  can  hold  the  sway  over  the  millions  that 
it  ^does,  and  how  at  this  present  time  it  can  be  making 
even,  as  I  humbly  believe  them  to  be,  despairing  and 
dying  efforts,  but  still  efforts  that  are  such  as  have  never 
been  known  in  anything  like  the  experience  of  the  last 
century.  How  strange  that  such  a  religion — a  religion 
that  those  who  are  friends  to  no  religion  at  all  denounce 
as  one  of  the  most  foolish  forms  of  faith  that  can  be  con- 
ceived— should  at  the  present  time  thrive  ;  and  strange, 
too,  that  in  West  Africa,  for  instance,  it  should  be  to  some 
extent  spreading.  Think  for  a  moment  if  we  take  a 
hundred  as  the  basis  of  our  calculation,  that  thirty  or  so 
will  represent  the  Christians  ;  but  how  many  to  the 
hundred  are  the  Mohammedans,  think  you  }  Half  as 
many  as  there  are  Christians.  I  believe  in  "  Howe's 
Physical  Atlas,"  from  which  I  am  mentally  quoting,  Mo- 
hammedans are  placed  as  fifteen  parts,  while  Christians  are 
only  put  as  two.  Is  it  not  then,  my  dear  friends,  right  that 
there  should  have  been  a  conference  on  such  a  subject  as 


6o  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

this,  and  that  those  who  are  qualified  to  entertain  the  sub- 
ject should  have  conferred  together  ;  and  may  we  not  look 
with  the  deepest  interest  to  the  results  of  that  conference 
as  showing  themselves  in  increased  efTort  in  the  Moham- 
medan world  ?  For  my  own  part  I  share  the  hope  expres- 
sed, I  think,  by  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  in  his  admirably-written 
work  on  East  Africa,  in  which  he  seems  to  ascribe  such 
progress  as  has  been  made  by  Mohammedanism  to  the 
fact  that  Mohammedanism  tends  always,  especially  among 
such  classes  as  the  African  natives,  to  raise  them  in  the 
social  scale,  to  civilize  them,  and  to  call  them  up  into  a 
position  superior  to  that  which  they  at  present  enjoy  ;  and 
I  learn  from  this  most  valued  source  that  the  converts  to 
Mohammedanism  are  received  on  the  easiest  terms.  What 
can  be  more  captivating  to  one  of  those  poor  forlorn  West 
or  East  Africans  than  to  find  himself  suddenly  raised  from 
the  lowest  point  of  social  degradation  to  share,  as  it  were, 
the  honours  of  the  masters  of  the  country  to  which  they 
belong  ?  These,  I  believe,  are  the  reasons  why  Moham- 
medanism is  making  some  degree  of  despairing  advance, 
and  we  may  thankfully  rejoice  that  our  Society  has  at  once 
seen  the  deep  necessity  of  meeting  the  evil  of  this  marvel- 
lous, and  in  some  degree  mysterious,  effort  on  the  part  of 
a  false  religion.  With  all  thankfulness  must  we  have 
heard  about  the  increase  everywhere  and  the  development 
of  the  native  pastorate.  Oh,  my  dear  friends,  there  is 
nothing  that  can  give  us  more  true  and  real  encourage- 
ment than  seeing  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  is  now  speak- 
ing to  those  darkened  nations  through  people  speaking 
their  own  language.  We  may  rejoice,  too,  at  another  sign 
— a  sign  that  perhaps  we  should  pass  over  as  scarcely 
worthy  of  our  notice,  but  it  is  a  very  important  sign — 
namely,  that  those  native  Churches  are  beginning  to  realize 
the  duty  of  being  self-sustaining.  We  do  not  for  one 
moment  take  what  I  may  speak  of  as  a  mere  mercantile 
or  pecuniary  view  of  the  matter.  It  is  a  blessing  that  it 
should  be  so  that,  taking  a  mercantile  view  of  the  matter, 
the  funds  needed  may  be  transferred  elsewhere  ;  but  I  ask 
you  to  look  deeper  into  it — look  at  the  motives  when  those 
poor  souls  with  so  little  are  ready  to  spend  that  little  in 
sustaining  the  Church  to  which  they  belong  !  What  does 
that  say  for  their  sincerity  and  their  earnestness  ?     We  all 


MISSIONARY  QUALIFICATIONS.  6i 

of  us  belong  to  a  country  that  estimates,  very  often,  a 
man's  earnestness  by  his  HberaHty,  and  in  this  case  we  see 
that  out  of  their  deep  poverty  these  native  Churches  are 
beginning  to  glorify  God  by  sustaining  themselves.  And 
the  report  also  reminds  us  that  they  are  going  one  step 
further,  and  God  be  praised  for  it,  they  are  now  beginning 
to  send  out  missions.  This  is  the  most  encouraging  thing 
— they  are  beginning  to  send  out  missions  to  their  own 
poor  darkened  brethren.  I  might  name  many  instances, 
but  I  could  perhaps  hardly  choose  one  more  instructive 
than  that  connected  with  the  Yoruba-land  Mission.  There 
we  know  very  well  the  moral  tone  of  the  people  is  very 
low.  The  poor  inhabitants  of  Yoruba-land  are  very  dark, 
and  yet  amid  all  this  they  are  struggling,  through  district 
visitors  and  others,  to  go  forth  and  teach  their  brethren.  I 
forget  whether  the  words  were  read  ;  but  if  they  were,  I 
may  venture  to  read  them  again  :  "  District  visitors  volun- 
tarily labour  as  evangelists  among  their  heathen  and 
Mohammedan  fellow-townsmen."  And  again,  in  another 
portion  of  the  same  paper,  it  is  said  that  "  those  poor  crea- 
tures are  now  going  forward  in  the  strength  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  preach  and  to  do  the  duty  of  apostles  and  mis- 
sionaries." Do  not,  then,  my  dear  friends,  these  things 
give  us  all  great  and  ever-increasing  ground  for  thanks 
that  a  future,  and  a  mighty  future,  is  opening  before  us. 
Whether  we  look  to  the  Church  in  Africa,  to  which  such 
deeply  interesting  allusions  have  been  made  by  my  valued 
friend,  our  President,  or  whether  we  look  at  cultivated 
India,  we  see  and  we  read  in  the  statements  of  those  who 
are  qualified  to  inform  us  the  same  encouraging  facts.  I 
read,  for  instance,  in  reference  to  poor  uncultivated  Africa, 
this  very,  very  fruitful  remark  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere  :  "Tribes 
seem  only  to  need  that  moral  bend  which  is  supplied  by 
Christianity."  It  is  as  though  Africa  was  now  wanting — 
Africa  was  now  appealing  to  us  for  help,  as  in  the  case  of 
that  Nyanza  Mission.  Oh,  how  that  speaks  to  earnest 
hearts  when  the  heathen  King  of  Uganda  sends  for  Chris- 
*"ian  missionaries  to  come  to  him,  and  when,  thank  God, 
our  liberality  towards  the  mission  that  is  fitting  out  has 
not  been  wanting.  If  there  is  any  mission  that  I  might 
venture  to  commend  more  particularly  to  your  goodwill 
than  another,  it  is  the  mission  which,  as  we  have  heard,  is 


62  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

working  its  way  from  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  towards 
its  centre — that  Nyanza  Mission  which  will  very  soon  be 
gathered  together,  and  go  forth  to  its  mighty  work.  And 
last  of  all,  have  we  not  also  great  encouragement  from 
what  is  going  on  in  such  a  country  as  India  ?  I  do  not 
know  that  I  could  do  better  than  to  quote  two  or  three 
sentences  from  what  has  been  stated  by  a  most  competent 
and  at  the  same  time  a  most  unprejudiced  observer,  a 
distinguished  professor  of  Sanscrit,  Professor  M.  Williams, 
who  has  lately  come  back  from  India,  and  published  his 
impressions  of  that  country  in  a  deeply  interesting  letter 
that  appeared  in  the  Times.  In  that  letter  I  noticed  these 
words.  He  spoke  of  Christianity,  and  his  remark  was  that 
it  was  doing  much  by  way  of  education.  I  venture  to 
think  that  the  distinguished  professor  in  some  degree 
undervalued  what  Christianity  is  now  doing  in  India  ;  but 
at  any  rate  he  bore  witness  to  this  fact,  that  it  is  furthering 
education,  and  education  is  causing  a  great  upheaving  of 
thought  and  of  old  creeds.  He  adds  further  the  encourag- 
ing statement  that  the  ancient  fortress  of  Hinduism  is 
being  undermined,  and  he  says  in  addition  to  all  this,  that 
our  Indian  missionaries  know  full  well  that  the  complete 
disintegration  of  ancient  faiths  is  in  progress  in  the  upper' 
strata  of  Indian  society.  What  encouragement,  my  dear 
friends,  is  there  in  words  such  as  these.  What  calls  now 
seem  to  be  addressed  to  us  on  every  side.  Persia  now 
opening  herself  to  us ;  India  gradually  changing ;  more 
readers  than  were  ever  known  before  in  the  Punjaub. 
Our  dear  Lord  and  Master  seems  calling  to  us  to  go  for- 
ward to  our  mighty  labours,  and  can  we,  I  ask,  resist  the 
call  }  There  must  be  more  men,  more  money,  more  en- 
thusiasm. It  is  Christ  our  Master  who  calls  ;  wherefore, 
my  dear  friends,  let  us  obey  the  heavenly  calling,  and  as 
well  as  we  may,  go  forward. 

II.  Progress  of  Modern  Unbelief,  and  Christian 
Missions.     By  Rev.  G.  S.  Barrett. 

There  are  a  great  many  signs  in  our  modern  English  life 
which  seem  to  me  to  threaten  the  earnestness  and  vitality 
of  our  Christian  work.  The  absorbing  pursuit  of  wealth, 
the  undermining  of  the  spiritual  tone  of  our  Churches  by 


MODERN  UNBELIEF  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.  63 

the  habits  and  luxuries  of  an  advanced  civih'zation,  the 
introduction  into  England  of  a  great  many  things  which 
had  far  better  have  been  kept  across  the  channel,  and, 
above  all,  the  prevalence  of  what  threatens  to  be  England's 
national  vice,  the  love  of  drink,  are  all  signs  of  evil  omen 
in  our  modern  English  life.  But  I  refer  to  another  danger, 
when  I  say  that  Christian  missions  may  be  entering  upon 
a  new  and  more  perilous  period  of  their  history.  I  refer 
to  the  perils  to  which  Christian  missions  and  the  faith 
which  underlies  them  are  exposed  from  the  progress  of 
modern  unbelief,  and  that  is  the  subject  on  which  I  wish 
to  say  a  few  words.  I  need  not  take  up  your  time  by 
proving  the  existence  of  a  vast  amount  of  unbelief  in 
Europe  at  the  present  day.  The  signs  of  it  you  see  every- 
where. A  very  distinguished  writer  has  assured  us  with  a 
confidence  which,  at  least,  proves  that  dogmatism  is  not 
confined  to  theologians,  that  Christianity  has  been  touched 
by  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  is  melting  away.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  our  position  in  regard  to  Christian  mis- 
sions is  very  different  from  what  the  position  of  our  fathers 
fifty  years  ago  was.  They  had  to  defend  the  preaching  of 
Christ  to  the  heathen  ;  we  are  challenged  as  to  the  Christ 
we*  preach.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  whether  it  be  right 
to  send  the  Gospel  to  all  nations  ;  it  is,  "  Have  we  any 
Gospel  at  all  to  send  V  I  myself  think,  however,  that  the 
present  phase  of  unbelief  will  not  last  very  long  ;  but  the 
religious  atmosphere  of  Europe  at  present  reminds  me  of 
what  some  of  us  have  seen  in  the  morning  when  we  have 
been  in  Scotland,  when  the  mist  has  crept  up  from  the 
valley,  and  very  soon  all  the  landscape — even  the  very 
mountains  themselves — have  been  hidden  from  view. 
Something  like  that  mist  has  been  creeping  over  the  land- 
marks of  religious  faith  to-day  ;  and  I  do  not  wonder  that 
a  great  many  Christian  people  are  very  seriously  concerned 
about  it.  Will  you  permit  me  just  to  say  this  one  word  by 
way  of  consolation  .^  Do  not  forget  that,  though  the  mist 
may  conceal  the  mountains,  it  cannot  remove  them  ;  and 
though  men  do  not  see  for  a  time  the  great  realities  of  our 
faith,  though  we  are  told  that  Christianity  is  melting  away 
— wait  a  little,  wait  till  the  sun  shines  again,  wait  till  the 
light  of  God's  truth  bursts  out  upon  this  modern  unbelief, 
and  then  see  if  our  Christianity  is  melting  away.     Like  the 


64  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

mountains,  it  stands  fast  for  ever  and  ever.  But  though  the 
great  fact  of  our  Christian  faith  thus  stands  fast,  our  alle- 
giance to  it  may  be  shaken  ;  and  that  is  what  I  am  afraid 
of  And  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  two  ways  in  which 
this  spirit  of  the  age  may  affect  our  hearty  allegiance  to 
the  great  realities  of  the  Christian  faith.  First  of  all,  there 
is  a  danger  that  we  may  hold  with  a  slackened  grasp,  in 
consequence  of  the  discussions  of  recent  times,  the  great 
truth  which,  I  venture  to  say,  is  the  foundation  of  every 
missionary  society ;  that  there  is  only  one  Saviour  and 
Prince  of  mankind,  and  that  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  way  in  which  this  doubt,  this  loosening  of  our  faith, 
begins  is  very  gradual.  It  is  not  denied  that  Christ  is  a 
Saviour;  it  is  not  denied  that  Christ  is  one  of  the  great 
religious  teachers  of  the  race ;  but  what  is  questioned  is 
this:  Is  He  the  only  Saviour.?  Is  He  the  only  religious 
teacher  of  the  race  }  That  is  the  way  in  which  the  doubt 
begins,  and  then  presently  some  one  comes  forward,  and 
suddenly  parades  before  us  the  truth,  as  if  it  were  a  recent 
discovery  of  the  spirit  of  the  age — that  God  reveals  Himself 
in  many  ways  to  man.  Why,  we  had  learned  that  long 
ago.  It  lies  on  the  first  page  of  St.  John's  Gospel — **  The 
light  is  shining  in  the  darkness  ;  but  the  darkness  com- 
prehendeth  it  not."  And  then  books  are  written — and  I 
am  not  here  to  say  a  single  word  against  these  books 
— on  the  religions  of  mankind.  They  are  very  learned 
books  ;  they  are  very  charming  books  to  read,  but  they 
are  books  confessedly  dealing,  not  with  the  facts — the 
sad,  terrible  facts — of  heathenism,  as  our  missionaries  see 
them  with  their  own  eyes  every  day,  but  they  deal  with  the 
philosophy,  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  founders  of  these 
faiths  ;  and  let  me  say,  they  do  not  give  us  all  their  ethical 
teaching.  They  take  great  care  to  pick  out  a  few  grains  of 
gold  from  amidst  a  multitude  of  sand.  Books  are  written, 
and  then  this  doubt  begins  to  feel  a  little  more  courage, 
and  stands  up,  and  commences  to  quote  Mr.  Tennyson. 
Doubt  is  very  fond,  by  the  way,  of  quoting  Tennyson — 
fonder  than  it  is  of  quoting  the  New  Testament — and  it 
says,  •'  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways."  Here  in  Europe 
is  one  way,  there  in  China  is  another  way,  in  India  is 
another  way,  and  the  result  is  this  at  the  end,  that  even 
though  some  reverence  be  retained  for  Christ  as  a  religious 


MODERN  UNBELIEF  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.   65 

teacher,  it  is  only  the  reverence  given  to  Him  as  one 
amongst  many.  He  has  no  more  exclusive  claim  on  the 
homage  and  faith  of  mankind  than  Confucius  or  Buddha,  we 
are  told  :  He  is  one  of  the  great  religious  reformers  of  the 
race.  Now,  what  is  very  remarkable  is  this  :  this  kind  of 
unbelief  is  very  much  offended  if  you  call  it  unbelief  I  call 
it  unbelief,  and  unbelief  of  the  deadliest  kind  ;  but  it  prefers 
to  call  itself  broad  theology.  One  thing  at  least  is  certain  ; 
it  may  be  broad  theology,  but  it  is  not  the  theology  of  the 
apostles  of  Christ.  The  men  that  lived  with  the  Lord 
Jesus,  who  knew  most  of  His  mind,  did  not  believe  for  one 
moment  that  religion  was  like  food,  simply  a  question  of 
taste,  for  a  race.  They  did  not  believe  that  truth  varied 
with  different  degrees  of  longitude.  All  through  their 
writings,  from  first  to  last,  you  can  trace  this  conviction 
running,  burning  like  a  fire  in  their  bones, — "  Neither  is 
there  salvation  in  any  other,  for  there  is  none  other  name 
given  under  heaven  amon*g  men,  whereby  we  may  be  saved." 
They  may  have  been  in  doubt  about  a  great  many  things 
in  connection  with  the  revelation  of  Christ ;  there  was  no 
uncertainty  here.  The  rock  on  which  they  built  everything 
was  this— not  a  philosophy,  not  an  opinion,  but  a  solid, 
impregnable,  historical  fact.  We  have  seen  and  do  testify 
that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the 
world."  Other  revelations /"r^w  God  to  man  }  Why,  they 
never  denied  it.  Their  own  Judaism  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal ones  ;  but  no  other  revelation  of  God,  no  other  in- 
carnation, save  this,  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh."  This  is 
the  final,  complete  utterance  of  God's  will  for  man — "  God, 
who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  hath  spoken 
in  times  past,  hath  in  these  latter  days  spoken  unto  us 
by  His  Son."  Now,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  how  far  this 
so-called  broad  theology  has  become  the  theology  of  any  of 
our  ministers  or  Churches  ;  but  I  do  venture  to  say  this — 
if  it  has  become  the  theology  of  any  of  our  Churches,  do 
not  look  to  them  for  any  very  constant  or  considerable  help 
in  the  missionary  enterprise — and  if  ever  (which  may  God 
forbid !)  it  should  become  the  leading  theology  of  our 
Churches,  I  think  you  may  date  from  that  day  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  of  our  missionary  enterprise.  I  do  not 
say  that  our  missionary  societies  won't  go  on  for  a  time. 
Machinery  does  not  stop  all  at  once  when  you  shut  off  the 

F 


66  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

steam  ;  nor  do  missionary  societies  ;  but  they  will  stop, 
nevertheless.  1  am  sure  that  there  is  no  power,  no  spiritual 
force,  strong  enough  to  drive  the  wheels  of  the  mighty  work 
of  the  evangelization  of  the  world,  save  that  power  which 
springs  from  the  conviction  that  as  there  is  one  mathe- 
matics, one  science,  just  as  true  in  China  as  here  in  England, 
so  there  is  but  one  religion,  one  Saviour,  one  King,  who  is 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords.  But  we  are  told  that  all 
this  is  nonsense.  We  have  been  informed  that  it  is  quite 
possible  for  our  missionary  societies  to  go  on  doing  their 
work,  although  we  rpay  not  hope  to  convert  the  world  to 
Christianity.  It  is  said  to  us,  "You  forget  that  Christianity 
is  more  than  a  religion ;  it  is  a  civilization  as  well.  Well, 
now,  let  your  missionaries  take  their  printing-presses  and 
their  books,  and  do  not  forget  to  put  in  a  few  copies  of 
Matthew  Arnold's  work  (he  is  growing  now  in  grace  and 
peace) — the  old  St.  Matthew  is  a  little  worn  out — and  let 
them  go  out  to  the  heathen,  content  with  the  humbler  work, 
but  not  less  useful,  of  educating  and  refining  and  civilizing 
these  savage  races."  Very  well ;  but  before  we  turn  our 
missionary  societies  into  limited  companies  for  the  promo- 
tion of  civilization,  I  want  to  ask  this  question,  "  Where  are 
the  missionaries  to  come  from  } "  Who  is  going  to  take  the 
printing-press,  the  books,  and  all  these  copies  of  Matthew 
Arnold's  works  into  the  distant  and  rude  nations  of  the 
world?  ^Why,  you  won't  find  the  men.  I  never  yet  heard 
of  a  band  of  cultured  unbelievers,  even  though  they  might 
have  discovered  the  secret  of  Jesus,  saying,  *'  We  will  give 
up  father  and  mother,  and  houses  and  lands,  and  even 
writing  for  the  Contemporary  Review  itself.  We  will  give 
up  all  these  things  for  the  sake  of  civilization  t  We  will  go 
to  Cannibal  Island,  if  you  like;  they  may  eat  us,  but  it 
won't  matter ;  we  do  not  count  our  lives  dear  to  us  for 
civilization's  sake."  I  never  heard  the  names  of  any  of  these 
self-denying  heroes  of  culture.  The  fact  is,  civilization  is 
just  about  as  selfish  as  human  nature  is.  It  objects  to  be 
eaten.  It  prefers  (I  do  not  blame  it  for  preferring,  because 
it  is  civilization)  the  sweet  reasonableness  of  society  at 
home  to  being  called,  as  my  brother  is,  a  foreign  devil  in 
Shanghai,  or  being  cooked  and  eaten  in  some  island  of  the 
South  Seas.  On  the  other  hand,  who  are  the  men  of  whom 
the  world  is  not  worthy  who  have  gone  out  leaving  their 


MODERN  UNBELIEF  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.    67 

English  life  and  English  homes  ?  They  have  not  been 
inspired  by  a  passion  for  civilization — no,  they  are  the 
successors  of  the  apostles,  the  true  Apostolical  Succession 
this.  I  do  not  think  we  wanted  a  second  in  Madagascar. 
They  are  the  successors  of  Paul  and  Barnabas — men  who 
hazarded  their  lives  for  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus.  Ask 
them  the  secret  of  their  devotion  to  the  missionary  cause  ; 
ask  them  why  many  of  them  deliberately  abandoned  the 
chances  of  intellectual  distinction  in  England  ;  ask  them 
why  they  have  gone  out,  some  of  them  to  live  in  countries 
where  to  live  means  to  suffer — and  they  will  tell  you,  not 
for  civilization,  but  for  the  sake  of  Him  who,  of  His  own 
deep  and  infinite  love,  has  looked  down  upon  us  and  said, 
"  For  My  sake  and  the  Gospel's."  Of  course  they  carried 
something  more  than  the  Gospel  with  them  ;  or  I  would 
rather  put  it  thus — because  they  carried  the  Gospel,  they 
carried  something  more  with  them.  The  missionaries  of 
Christ  have  always  been  missionaries  of  civilization.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  and  it  has  been  alluded  to  again  and  again 
on  this  platform,  the  missionaries  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
have  always  been  the  pioneers  in  the  work  of  civilization. 
Who  began  the  work  in  Madagascar }  Our  missionaries. 
Who  began  the  work  in  the  South  Seas  t  Not  "  The  Earl 
and  the  Doctor."  Earls  and  doctors,  you  know,  go  to 
visit  South  Sea  Islands  ;  they  do  not  go  to  civilize,  but  to 
criticise.  "  I  came,  I  saw  (for  a  day),  I  criticised,"  is  their 
motto.  But  who  did  the  work  there?  Why,  our  mis- 
sionaries. Who  carried  the  printing-press  into  the  heart 
of  South  Africa  ?  Who  made  the  road  there,  along  which 
perhaps  fifty  years  hence  some  conceited  critic  of  mis- 
sionary work  will  travel }  Who,  but  that  dear  and  honoured 
friend  Dr.  Moffat,  who  seems  like  a  tree  planted  by  the 
rivers  of  water,  that  bringeth  forth  fruit,  not  merely  in 
season,  but  in  old  age.?  Who  are  doing  the  work  of 
culture  and  civilization  all  over  the  world  to-day — who  but 
the  missionaries  of  Christ  t  All  this  is  true.  But — I  say  it 
openly— I  scorn  to  rest  the  claims  of  a  missionary  society 
on  the  civilizing  work  which  our  missionaries  are  doing, 
and  I  say  again,  the  faith,  the  only  faith  that  is  the  inspira- 
tion and  strength  of  this  missionary  work  ;  the  faith  that 
animated  such  men  as  Henry  Martyn,  and  Carey,  and  John 
Williams,  and  our  own    Moffat — was   not   the  faith   that 


68  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

believed  in  the  spelling-book  and  printing-press  only :  it 
believed  in  them,  but  it  believed  in  something  far  nobler 
than  them  ;  it  believed  that  India,  and  China,  and  Africa 
needed  Christ  as  much  as  Europe  did  ;  it  believed  that 
Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  not  in  Europe 
alone.  It  was  a  faith  that  yearned  with  a  changeless  loyalty 
to  the  throne  of  Christ,  to  see  Him  crowned  King  of  kings, 
and  Lord  of  lords.  Touch  that  faith,  weaken  it,  you  weaken 
the  very  mainspring  of  our  modern  missionary  enterprise ; 
abandon  that  faith,  and  our  missionary  societies  will  not 
last  twenty  years.  Of  course  this  does  not  imply  that  we 
think  that  our  Christianity  should  take  the  same  form  of 
intellectual  expression  or  ecclesiastical  organization  in  the 
East  that  it  does  in  the  West.  We  do  not  care  about  the 
form.  Let  the  water  of  life  take  its  shape  from  the  vessel 
that  holds  it.  All  we  care  about  is  this:  it  is  the  water  of 
life,  and  it  is  because  we  believe  it  is,  because  that  river  flows 
from  beneath  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb ;  that  on 
its  banks,  and  there  alone,  grows  the  tree  of  life,  whose  leaves 
are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations  ;  it  is  because  we  believe 
this  that  we  cannot  but  dig  the  channels  into  every  land, 
ay,  into  the  desert  and  the  solitary  place,  that  into  every 
spot  the  life-giving  stream  may  flow ;  and  it  shall  come  to 
pass — for  the  old  words  are  true  to-day — that  everything 
which  moveth,  whithersoever  the  river  shall  come,  shall 
live.  I  have  not  left  myself  time  to  do  more  than  just 
briefly  refer  to  the  second  danger  to  which  our  missionary 
enterprise  is  exposed  from  the  spirit  of  the  age.  I  refer  to 
the  temporary  decay — for  I  believe  it  is  only  temporary — 
which  modern  doubt  is  introducing  in  our  belief  in  the 
future  punishment  of  sin.  There  was  a  time — I  daresay  it 
is  within  the  recollection  of  most  of  us  here — when  the 
principal  motive  appealed  to  at  the  public  meetings  of  this 
Society  in  the  support  of  it  was  the  eternal  doom  that 
awaited  the  nations  that  knew  not  God.  That  time  has 
gone  by.  The  very  phrase,  *'the  perishing  heathen,"  I  do 
not  remember  to  have  heard  for  years.  We  seldom  hear 
anything  at  our  missionary  meetings  of  the  danger  or  the 
judgment  which  the  nations  that  die  without  Christ  may 
incur  from  Christ's  hands.  Now,  I  say  frankly,  I  do  not 
regret  this.  "We  make  no  judgment  as  to  the  final  and 
eternal  condition  of  the  heathen."     But  what  I  ask  is  this : 


MODERN  UNBELIEF  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS.   69 

Is  there  no  judgment  being  made — a  judgment  the  reverse 
of  the  old  and  terrible  one  ?  It  was  once  assumed  that, 
because  they  were  heathen,  without  a  doubt  they  would 
perish  everlastingly.  It  seems  now  to  be  assumed  equally 
without  doubt,  that  because  they  are  heathen  they  shall  be 
saved  everlastingly.  I  speak  with  great  diffidence,  and 
with  a  sense  of  responsibility  ;  but  I  think  I  see  indications 
of  a  spirit  amongst  our  Churches  which,  if  it  means  any- 
thing, means  this  :  that  the  perils  of  moral  probation  in 
England  vanish  when  you  reach  China  or  India.  We  seem 
to  forget  that  there  is  quite  as  much  danger  in  an  unscrip- 
tural  charity  as  there  is  from  an  unscriptural  severity.  At 
any  rate,  I  am  not  sure  that  the  deep  and  intense  yearnings 
which  the  founders  of  this  Society  felt  for  the  souls  of  the 
heathen,  that  intense  longing  for  their  salvation,  the  longing 
which,  in  tears  and  prayers,  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
Society — I  am  not  at  all  certain  that  that  yearning  and 
longing  are  not  becoming  rare  amongst  us  ;  and  it  is  no 
sign  for  good  if  they  be.  Whatever  theory  you  may  hold 
as  to  the  future  state  of  the  heathen — and  I  confess  frankly 
I  have  none — this  is  certain  :  that  any  theory  that  lessens 
your  concern  to  preach  Christ  to  them  is  by  that  fact  self- 
condemned.  Refuse,  if  you  like,  to  speculate  as  to  their 
eternal  condition,  but  do  not  refuse  to  preach  Christ  to 
them.  Whilst  we  are  discussing,  they  are  sinning — sinning, 
it  is  true,  without  law  ;  but  I  remember  that  there  are 
words — words  dark  and  mysterious,  I  know,  but  whose 
very  darkness  may  cover  some  judgment  for  them — "For 
as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law  shall  perish  without 
law."  At  any  rate  this  is  certain  :  whatever  their  respon- 
sibility— and  we  can  leave  it  with  our  God — our  respon- 
sibility is  clear.  We  are  entrusted  with  the  Gospel,  and  it 
is  ours  to  obey  Christ's  command,  "Go  ye  out  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  I  heard 
the  other  day  a  simple  but  touching  story — many  of  you 
may  have  heard  it  ;  if  so,  you  will  forgive  my  repeating  it 
— which  perhaps  may  serve  not  only  to  conclude  these 
remarks,  but  to  deepen  our  sense  of  the  enormous  mass  of 
work  that  yet  remains  to  be  done.  A  company,  I  think 
of  gipsies,  had  encamped  near  a  town.  A  lady  who  was 
occupied  in  doing  the  Master's  work,  and  going  to  seek  the 
lost,  asked  permission  to  be  allowed  to  enter  one  of  the 


70  PLATFORM   AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

vans.  After  some  delay,  she  was  allowed  ;  and  she  found 
upon  entering,  a  poor  boy  lying  on  a  wretched  bed,  and 
evidently  at  the  very  point  of  death.  She  spoke  to  him 
kindly,  but  she  received  no  answer.  Then  stooping  down, 
she  whispered  in  his  ear  the  old  verse,  and  oh,  what  a 
biography  God  is  writing  of  that  verse!  '*  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  There  was  no  reply.  A  second  time  she  repeated 
the  same  words,  and  a  second  time  no  notice  was  taken  of 
what  she  said ;  and  then  a  third  time  kneeling  down,  she 
whispered  into  his  ear  the  same  words  ;  and  then  the  eyes 
already  glazed  in  death  opened,  and  the  thin  white  lips 
moved,  and  the  whisper  came  out,  "Nobody  never*told  me 
this  before,  but  thank  Him  kindly  for  it."  What  a  rebuke 
to  us,  brethren,  in  those  words.  At  this  moment  there  are 
myriads  of  men  and  women  and  little  children  for  whom 
Christ  died,  and  whom  He  loves  as  much  as  He  loves 
you  and  me,  who,  if  they  were  to  hear  that  old  verse, 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,"  would  say,  "  Nobody  never 
told  me  this  before."  There  are  hearts,  dark  and  degraded 
I  know,  foul  with  all  the  nameless  vices  of  heathenism  ; 
but  hearts  that  Christ's  blood  can  cleanse,  that  might 
turn  to  Him  with  a  look  of  love,  and  say,  "Thank  Him 
kindly  for  it."  I  ask  you,  I  ask  myself,  "What  are  we 
doing  to  tell  the  world  of  the  infinite  love  of  God  in 
Christ  ?  "  Others  will  speak  to  you  of  the  claims  of  this 
Society  ;  but  I,  as  the  son  of  a  missionary,  and  the  brother 
of  a  missionary,  cannot  sit  down  without  saying  one  word 
to  the  young  men.  I  see  numbers  of  young  men  present 
here  to-day.  Many  of  you  are  hoping  to  become  heads  of 
large  business  establishments  in  this  city  ;  many  of  you, 
I  daresay,  have  the  ambition  to  take  your  share  in  the 
great  political  agitations  of  the  State.  It  is  an  honourable 
ambition  ;  but  a  nobler  ambition  is  before  you.  The 
love  of  Christ  may  constrain  you,  and,  filled  with  the 
grandeur  and  glory  of  Christ's  kingdom,  that  kingdom 
which  shall  have  no  end,  you  may  to-day  on  your  knees 
say  to  Him,  "Lord,  thou  hast  said  the  harvest  truly  is 
plenteous,  but  the  labourers  are  few ;  Lord,  wilt  Thou  take 
me  as  one  of  the  labourers  for  Thy  harvest .?  "  It  may 
require  sacrifices,  but  you  will  not  speak  of  sacrifice  to 


WORKING    WITH  GOD.  Jt 

Christ  in  the  presence  of  His  Cross.  Men  may  sneer  at 
you,  or  blame  you  ;  even  your  friends  may  question  your 
motives  ;  -but  that  will  not  move  you.  You  have  given  up 
your  life  to  the  noblest  of  all  works  ;  the  work  that  an 
archangel  which  surrounds  the  throne  of  God  may  well 
envy — the  work  of  preaching  Christ  to  the  heathen.  That 
is  enough.  And  often  and  often  when  you  go  to  your 
work  in  the  far-distant  land  amidst  days  of  loneliness  and 
toil,  away  from  all  the  English  love  and  English  home 
which  now  surrounds  you,  Christ  will  come,  and,  oh !  He 
will  come  with  that  look  and  smile  which  means,  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant."  Talk  of  sacrifice  with 
Christ's  look  thus  upon  you !     You  will  say — 

"  Happy  if  with  my  latest  breath 
I  may  but  speak  His  name  ; 
Preach  Him  to  all,  and  cry  in  death, 
Behold,  behold,  the  Lamb  !  " 


III.     Working  with  God.     By  Rev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

I  AM  always  sorry  when  you  cheer  me  at  the  commence- 
ment, because  you  little  know  how  you  will  be  disap- 
pointed. If  you  will  read  the  report,  I  think  you  will  be 
greatly  pleased  with  it.  It  is  not  only  full  of  interesting 
matter,  but  it  is  exceedingly  well  written.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  am  a  general  admirer  of  reports.  I  usually  find, 
when  I  cannot  sleep  at  night,  that  a  report  is  one  of  the 
best  things  I  can  take.  But  this  report  lacks  the  soporific 
element  altogether,  and  there  are  many  admirable  sentences 
in  it  worth  quoting.  I  shall  quote  one  or  two,  perhaps, 
before  I  have  done,  as  I  could  not  say  anything  so  good 
myself.  The  spirit  of  gratitude  reigns  supreme  in  the 
hearts  of  all  who  have  done  anything  for  the  Society  ;  but 
I  earnestly  hope  that  you  who  have  not  done  anything  will 
not  feel  much  personal  gratitude,  but  rather  feel  a  little 
shame  at  not  having  had  a  share  in  that  for  which  the  rest 
have  a  right  to  be  grateful.  We  will  begin  by  being  honest, 
and  every  man  who  has  contributed  his  mite  will  now  bless 
and  magnify  the  Lord  that  there  has  been  a  somewhat 
larger  harvest.  If  we  have  not  sown  one  single  grain  of 
it,  perhaps  it  were  better  that  repentance  should  take  the 
place  of  a  spirit  of  gratitude,  and  that  reformation  should 


72  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

follow,  and  that  we  should  begin  at  once  to  do  something 
for  the  Master.  Yet,  even  with  you  there  may  be  gratitude 
that  others  have  done  the  work  if  you  have  not.  So  we 
will  altogether  join  in  praising,  and  blessing,  and  magnify- 
ing the  Lord  that  somewhat  better  has  been  done  this  year 
than  last  year,  and  that  God  has  smiled  upon  our  work.  I 
am  grateful  for  the  success  of  which  the  report  speaks.  It 
is  a  great  blessing  to  have  success.  Of  course  we  all  know 
— at  least,  all  those  who  have  empty  chapels  know — that 
large  congregations  are  no  criterion  of  success.  Large 
numbers  of  persons  added  to  a  Church  are  no  evidence  of 
the  Divine  blessing  whatever ;  in  fact,  there  may  be  a 
greater  blessing  resting  upon  empty  pews  than  upon  a  full 
house,  and  if  a  Church  decreases  sensibly  from  year  to  year, 
that  may  be  only  a  proof  of  the  high  faithfulness  of  the 
man  who  would  not  condescend  to  a  theology  so  popular 
and  so  vulgar  that  it  draws  the  multitude.  You  know  how 
the  thing  is  done.  Now  I,  who  do  not  sympathize  with 
that,  nevertheless  say  that  I  am  thankful  for  success  ;  but 
I  feel  in  my  heart  a  deeper  gratitude  to  God  for  permission 
to  work  for  Him.  I  could  bow  at  His  feet  and  bless  His 
name  if  He  would  only  let  me  be  a  little  ant,  and  live  at 
His  feet ;  if  He  only  would  not  crush  me,  and  let  me  live 
there,  and  carry  grains  of  sand  for  Him  throughout  eternity. 
It  seems  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  highest  gifts  of  His  grace 
to  be  permitted  to  take  any  share  whatever  in  His  grand 
enterprise  of  the  salvation  of  the  sons  of  men,  and  I  invite 
you  to  be  grateful  to-night  that  God  smiles  on  our  success  ; 
and  even  if  there  had  not  been  any  success,  I  should  invite 
you  to  be  grateful  that  He  permits  you  to  serve  Him.  I 
think  we  lack  one  evidence  of  the  perfect  reconciliation  of 
our  souls  to  God  until  we  get  to  do  something  for  Him.  I 
have  pictured  to  my  mind  sometimes  the  younger  son 
coming  home  to  his  father,  and  his  father  falling  on  his 
neck  and  kissing  him,  and  waking  that  great  festival  with 
music  and  dancing.  But  I  can  imagine  the  father  when  the 
market-day  came  round,  sending  the  elder  son  to  market 
to  sell  the  corn  and  the  fat  beasts,  and  the  younger  son 
being  kept  at  home  ;  and  I  can  suppose  the  father  saying  to 
himself,  "  I  don't  know  ;  I  love  my  younger  son,  but  I  can't 
trust  him.  I  don't  think  it  right  to  put  him  in  any  position 
of  responsibility  as  yet."    And  I  can  suppose  that  might  go 


WORKING    WITH  GOD.  -ji 

on  for  weeks  and  months,  the  younger  son  being  always 
kept  at  home,  occupied  upon  such  duties  as  might  be  al- 
lotted to  him,  but  never  being  allowed  to  do  anything  that 
required  trust,  and  at  last  the  feeling  came  in  his  heart : 
"  My  father,  I  have  no  doubt,  has  gone  as  far  in  forgiveness 
as  he  can,  but  he  has  not  forgotten,  and  I  can  see  that  my 
elder  brother  is  always  sent  where  there  is  any  responsi- 
bility and  trust,  and  my  father  cannot  trust  me  yet."  I 
think  he  would  feel  it  in  his  inmost  soul.  And  it  would 
only  be  at  last  when  his  father  would  entrust  him  with 
some  treasure,  some  family  heirloom,  or  send  him  out  upon 
some  important  work,  that  he  would  say  :  "  At  length  I  have 
the  child's  place  again  ;  I  have  got  back  full  into  my  father's 
heart,  and  now  I  am  as  dear  to  him  as  my  eldest  brother." 
Paul  seemed  to  feel  something  of  that  kind  when  he  thanked 
God  that  He  had  put  Him  in  trust  with  the  Gospel.  It 
was  the  grandest  trust  that  can  be  given,  and  He  trusted 
such  a  sinner  as  Saul  of  Tarsus  with  it,  and  he  thanked 
God,  saying,  "  Unto  me,  who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all 
the  saints,  is  this  grace  given  that  I  should  preach  amongst 
the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ."  It  becomes 
a  token  of  complete  reconciliation  when  the  Lord  allows  us 
to  get  to  work  for  Him  in  that  department  which  is  the 
dearest  to  His  heart,  which  He  accounts  as  the  apple  of 
His  eye,  for  which,  in  fact,  the  Saviour  shed  His  blood. 
Moreover,  I  do  not  see  how  our  sense  of  oneness  to  Christ 
could  ever  have  been  perfected  if  we  had  not  been  per- 
mitted to  work  for  Christ.  If  He  had  been  pleased  to  save 
us  by  His  precious  blood,  and  then  leave  us  with  nothing 
to  do,  we  should  have  had  fellowship  with  Christ  up  to  a 
certain  point,  but  (I  speak  from  experience)  there  is  no 
fellowship  with  Christ  that  seems  to  me  to  be  so  vivid,  so 
real  to  the  soul,  as  when  you  get  to  try  and  win  a  soul  for 
Him.  Oh,  when  you  come  to  battle  with  that  soul's  diffi- 
culties, to  weep  for  that  soul's  hardness  ;  when  you  come 
to  set  the  arguments  of  Divine  mercy  before  it,  and  find 
yourself  foiled  ;  when  you  are  in  a  very  agony  of  spirit, 
and  feel  that  you  could  die  sooner  than  that  soul  should 
perish,  then  you  get  to  read  the  heart  of  Him  whose  flow- 
ing tears,  and  bloody  sweat,  and  dying  wounds  showed 
you  how  much  He  loved  poor  fallen  mankind.  You  must 
have  something  of  this   sort  to  do.     The   Church   wants 


74  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

mission  work  to  lift  her  up  to  a  proper  elevation,  in 
which  she  may  begin  to  know  the  great  heart  of  Christ 
in  the  right  sense,  and  to  understand  something  of  Him 
who  came  into  the  world  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.  I  felt,  when  coming  here,  that  I  would  give  any- 
thing to  get  off  the  task,  because  I  feel  utterly  incom- 
petent to  deliver  a  missionary  speech  ;  but  I  question 
whether  any  man  ever  spoke  in  a  tone  equal  to  the  weight 
of  this  wondrous  subject — missions,  the  work  of  evan- 
gelizing the  world.  Ah,  ye  orators  !  if  this  were  a  fit  theme 
for  you,  you  might  expend  yourselves  there.  All  human 
eloquence  and  forcible  speech  might  quail  before  such  a 
mighty  subject.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  measure  it,  but  will 
say  a  few  words  to  you  on  the  privilege  which  God  has 
granted  to  us  in  allowing  us  to  be  co-workers  with  Him  in 
the  gathering  out  of  His  elect  from  among  mankind,  and 
in  the  ultimate  conquest  of  the  entire  world  for  Christ. 
For  I  believe  to  this  moment  in  the  ultimate  win- 
ning of  the  whole  world  for  Christ.  I  cannot  go  in  for 
that  theory  of  the  ship  breaking  up  out  there  and  cannot 
be  saved,  and  that  we  have  to  snatch  a  i^\N  off  the  wreck. 
It  is  a  most  pleasant  theory,  because  it  allows  one  to  sleep 
at  night,  and  not  be  troubled  about  men's  souls.  I  like 
nothing  that  makes  me  feel  easy  about  my  fellow-creatures' 
souls.  I  alwa}'s  denounce  as  error  that  which  operates 
upon  my  spirit  to  make  me  less  concerned  about  the  im- 
mediate salvation  of  my  fellow-men.  It  is  a  high  privilege 
that  God  has  given  us  to  be  associated  with  Him  in  this 
work.  In  the  creation  He  made  the  world  alone  ;  yet  when 
He  put  the  man  into  the  garden,  He  bade  him  dress  and 
keep  it  ;  there  was  a  little  fellowship  between  man  and  his 
Maker  in  creation — not  much.  Then  came  redemption, 
and  in  the  payment  of  that  wondrous  price  by  which  we 
were  redeemed  we  could  have  no  communion  ;  He  must 
pay  it  all  who  has  (blessed  be  His  name!)  paid  it  all.  But 
then  in  the  application  of  that  redemption  there  is  an  op- 
portunity given  us  to  have  fellowship  with  Jesus.  In  the 
telling  out  of  the  good  news,  and  in  being  the  instrument 
under  God  of  impressing  men's  hearts,  the  Holy  Spirit 
working  through  us,  we  are  enabled  to  have  most  extra- 
ordinary communion  with  Christ,  much  closer  fellowship 
with  Christ  than  some  have  ever  yet  attributed  to  human 


WORKING    WITH  GOD,  75 

agency.  It  is  a  very  wonderful  thing  that  Paul  should 
speak  of  those  who  were  begotten  of  him,  and  yet  in  another 
place  should  say  he  travaileth  in  birth  for  them  ;  as  if, 
taking  the  two  sides  of  parentage,  he  became  in  all  respects 
the  spiritual  parent  of  men's  souls.  It  is  marvellous  to  me 
how  much  God  can  use  us  poor  creatures,  and  how  won- 
derfully he  deigns  to  put  the  treasure  into  the  earthen 
vessel,  so  that  if  you  want  the  treasure,  you  must  have  the 
earthen  vessel  too.  Now,  this  enterprise  of  winning  the 
world  for  Christ  is  looked  upon  by  some  with  a  degree  of 
dread,  if  not  of  unbelief,  because  it  is  so  stupendous.  Oh, 
sir,  it  is  to  me  the  very  charm  of  the  thing.  If  our  Lord 
had  said,  "  My  children,  purchased  with  My  blood,  I  will 
give  you  some  little  tasks,  some  easy  work  to  do,"  why, 
manhood  had  never  been  lifted  up  as  now  it  is.  The  world, 
with  all  its  millions  to  be  made  to  bow  before  Emanuel's 
feet  through  the  agency  of  the  Church  of  God  ! — the  idea 
is  marvellous.  Lord,  what  is  man  that  Thou  art  so  mind- 
ful of  him  as  to  entrust  him  with  such  a  work  as  this  }  or 
the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  dost  so  visit  him  }  Truly,  Thou 
hast  made  him  lower  than  the  angels ;  but  Thou  hast  in 
this  thing,  as  well  as  in  many  others,  in  association  with 
Thy  dear  Son,  crowned  Him  with  glory  and  honour.  A 
small  conflict !  It  would  seem  as  if  God  had  not  trusted 
us  with  His  great  heart.  But  a  stupendous  work  like  this 
— a  work  which  involves  eternity — a  work  which  takes  in 
countless  nmltitudes  of  men  throughout  the  ages, — to  en- 
trust us  with  this  is  a  wondrous  reincarnation  of  Himself 
in  His  Church,  and  a  living  over  again  in  His  people  the 
life  of  soul-winning.  I  think  if  Christ  had  said,  **  My  dear 
children,  I  trust  you  with  England  ;  go  and  evangelize  it  ; 
take  the  British  Islands,  all  of  them,"  I  hope  by  this  time 
we  should  have  been  at  His  feet  with  many  tears,  and  say- 
ing, "  Lord,  let  us  try  France  ;  there  are  some  people  across 
in  Brittany  very  like  the  Welsh.  Lord,  include  them." 
And  I  think  after  a  while  some  bold  brother  would  have 
said,  "Gracious  Master,  let  us  try  all  the  Latin  races.  En- 
large our  commission  ;  let  us  go  to  them."  And  if  our 
brother  Wall  had  succeeded  in  Rome,  and  other  mission- 
aries elsewhere,  there  would  be  some  saying,  "  Let  us  pray 
God  that  as  India  belongs  to  Great  Britain  we  may  go 
there."     We  should  always  have  been  asking  to  have  our 


76  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

commission  extended,  I  think,  if  we  loved  Him  well  ;  and 
as  we  do  love  Him  well,  (oh,  that  we  loved  Him  better  !) 
let  us  be  glad  that  the  commission  is  so  great ;  let  us  go  at 
the  work  in  His  name  with  all  the  strength  that  we  have, 
and  all  the  strength  that  He  is  prepared  to  give  us.  "  But 
the  odds  are  so  deadly,"  says  somebody  ;  superstition  is  so 
strong  ;  the  wisdom  of  men  stands  out  so  against  the 
Gospel,  especially  in  India  ;  what  can  we  do  ?  Would  you 
like  the  battle  to  be  less  mighty  than  it  is  ?  Where  is  your 
chivalry  then  ?  I  think  God  is  acting  with  us  something 
like  the  English  king  when  his  son  was  fighting  with  the 
French.  He  felt  that  he  was  hardly  driven,  and  he  sent  a 
messenger  to  his  father  to  ask  for  succour.  "  No,"  said  the 
king,  "  he  is  doing  very  well,  and  I  won't  mar  the  victory 
by  sending  more  help  ;  let  him  fight  it  out"  Good  Lord  ! 
I  would  not  have  the  battle  of  my  life  made  less  stern  than 
it  is.  Give  me  more  strength.  That  is  a  far  better  alterna- 
tive. We  do  not  want  the  sceptic  to  be  less  wise  :  the 
Lord  make  us  to  use  better  **  the  foolishness  of  preaching." 
We  do  not  want  the  superstition  of  mankind,  as  far  as  we 
are  concerned,  to  be  less' fierce  and  strong  than  it  is  ;  nay, 
but  let  us  have  greater  courage  in  the  blessed  Gospel,  and 
hold  up  more  light  to  scare  these  bats  and  owls  away.  A 
thing  that  might  be  easily  done  would  not  show  so  much 
of  the  Divine  condescending  trustfulness  in  us.  "  But,  be- 
hold," he  seems  to  say,  '*  I  will  give  them  this  great,  this 
stern,  this  impossible  task  to  do,  and  I  will  be  with  them 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  they  shall  win  the  victory, 
and  great  shall  be  the  glory  which  they  shall  bring  to  My 
name."  Let  the  odds,  then,  stand  as  they  are,  and  the  diffi- 
culties be  as  stupendous  as  they  are.  "  But  oh  !  "  says  one, 
"  the  weary  time  !  Here  we  have  been  nearly  nineteen 
centuries  trying  to  convert  the  world."  No,  you  have  not. 
There  were  years  in  which  missionary  work  was  carried  on, 
but  there  was  a  long  dark  night  in  which  nothing  was  done 
and  everything  was  undone,  and  Romanism  was  getting 
darker  and  blacker,  and  clouding  the  light  instead  of 
spreading  it.  It  is  eighty-five  years — is  it  not  t — since 
missionary  enterprise  began.  And  then,  in  the  first  years, 
how  little  it  was  !  We  have  not  been  long  at  it.  Your 
report  says,  "  Our  Lord  has  put  to  a  divinely  generous  use 
the  small  efforts  of  His  Church."     I  am  sure  that  is  true. 


WORKING    WITH  GOD.  77 

It  is  little  that  has  been  done — very  little.  And  don't  talk 
about  time.  What  are  eighty-five  years  ?  Little  more  than 
one  man's  lifetime.  For  such  a  work  we  must  not  begin  to 
talk  about  length  of  years.  **  But  where  is  the  promise  of 
His  coming.'*"  say  you.  It  is  where  it  ahvays  was,  where 
the  faithful  rejoice  in  it  ;  but  they  are  not  everlastingly 
quoting  it  in  impatience  to  complain  of  Him,  or  as  an  ar- 
gument to  desist  from  work  or  to  become  unbelieving.  He 
will  come  time  enough  ;  but  for  my  part  I  will  rejoice  if 
He  comes  now  :  I  will  rejoice,  if  I  live  to  see  it,  if  He  does 
not  come  fur  ten  thousand  years,  because  one  likes  to  know 
that  Christ  gives  to  His  Church  now  a  long  trust,  a  long 
fight,  and  a  long  work  to  do.  We  shall  be  in  heaven  very, 
very  soon,  (would  God  that  all  in  this  hall  might  be  trans- 
lated to  the  skies  !)  and  one  would  like  in  heaven  to  have 
something  to  recollect  of  what  was  done  here  below ;  and 
if  one  could  have  fifty  years  of  service  crowded  full  of  work 
for  Christ,  one  might  praise  the  Lord  for  that,  and  think 
over  the  incidents  with  grateful  adoration  for  ever.  The 
Church  must  have  some  history  as  well  as  her  history 
written  yonder  in  a  blaze  of  light  for  her  greatest  honour ; 
and  the  greatest  honour  she  can  do  her  Master  comes  from 
the  history  written  in  blood,  and  the  history  written  in  toil 
and  sweat,  by  her  missionaries  among  the  sons  of  men. 
Somebody  has  complained  of  the  great  expense.  My 
friends,  this  must  not  be.  For  who  is  he  that  will  com- 
plain save  only  one,  who  said,  "  Wherefore  is  this  waste  .'* 
This  ointment  might  have  been  given  to  the  poor  "  ?  If 
the  Lord  Jesus  had  given  us  an  enterprise  which  might  be 
safely  carried  out  without  any  sacrifice,  at  the  expenditure 
of  a  few  pence  per  annum — which  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
notion  that  some  Christian  men  have  of  missions — we  might 
go  on  our  knees,  and  say,  "  Lord,  give  us  something  to  do 
that  will  take  up  more  of  our  money  ;  Lord,  we  have  no 
room  for  the  alabaster  boxes  now  ;  we  cannot  find  Thee 
here  to  break  them  on  Thy  head  and  pour  out  the  sacred 
nard  ;  we  cannot  find  out  what  to  do."  Here  you  see,  in 
infinite  condescending  trustfulness,  Christ  has  given  us 
work  to  do  which  will  take  up  all  the  money  we  have  got. 
As  much  as  we  can  possibly  bring  can  be  profitably  used 
in  this  work  of  the  extension  of  the  Master's  kingdom. 
And  so  let  it  be.     We  ought  to  be  glad  of  it,  and  thank 


78  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Him  for  having  given  us  such  a  work  as  this.  Oh !  what 
a  grand  scale  is  that  on  which  God  hath  made  all  things 
that  hath  to  do  with  Christ's  redemption  !  Sir,  I  believe 
in  immortal  souls  ;  and  I  believe  in  redemption  from  death 
and  hell,  and  a  redemption  to  heaven  and  eternal  glory. 
I  believe  that  interests  that  will  never  know  an  end  hang 
upon  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
therefore,  I  thank  God  that  in  a  work  so  wonderful  as  to 
be  nothing  less  than  Divine,  a  work  which  will  want  all 
the  ages  fully  to  develop  it,  He  has  been  pleased  to  as- 
sociate such  poor  creatures  as  we  are,  who,  though  we  are 
poor,  are  next  akin  to  Deity  Himself,  for  between  us  and 
God  there  standeth  but  that  One  who  is  God,  and,  blessed 
be  His  Name,  He  is  Man,  too  !  He  has  lifted  up  His  re- 
deemed people,  and  now,  having  made  them  sons,  He  bids 
them  do  the  Son's  work,  and  go  forth  for  the  conversion  of 
the  multitude  whom  He  hath  redeemed  with  His  precious 
blood.  Oh,  that  we  could  rise  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
scale  in  which  God  works,  and  begin  to  feel  that — 

"  Love  so  amazing,  so  Divine, 
Demands  our  soul,  our  life,  our  all." 

I  should  like  to  express  my  intense  satisfaction  with  the 
missionaries  of  this  society.  I  feel  grateful  to  know  that 
the  missionaries  rise  to  a  sense  of  the  responsibility  that 
God  has  laid  upon  them.  It  has  been  in  my  way  to  meet 
with  a  good  many  lately,  and  to  have  correspondence  with 
some  more ;  and  I  can  mention,  too,  some  missionaries' 
wives  that  are  worth  their  weight  in  gold.  There  is  a  work 
doing  in  Calcutta  that  shall  make  the  name  of  my  dear 
sister,  Mrs.  Rouse,  famous  among  women.  I  bless  the  Lord 
that  there  is  a  Divine,  earnest  spirit  amongst  our  mission- 
aries, who  (if  not  all  yet,  such  as  I  know)  are  the  very  men 
that  ought  to  be  sent  out,  and  they  will,  God  helping  them, 
do  their  work  right  gloriously.  But  the  Society  wants  more 
men,  and  I  have  been  running  my  eye  over  all  the  young 
men  here  especially,  thinking  whether  I  should  say  to  them, 
"  In  the  name  of  God,  thus  saith  the  Lord  out  of  the  thick 
darkness  wherein  Hedwelleth,  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who 
will  go  for  us  t  "  And  I  pray  that  the  seraphim  may  touch 
with  the  live  coal  from  off  the  altar  some  lip  here,  that 
some  heart  may  lead  up  to  the  lip,  and  say,  "  Here  am  I, 
send  me."     I  hope  there  are  many  such.    I  dream  of  Carey 


WORKING    WITH  GOD,  79 

still  hammering  at  the  last  ;  I  dream  of  the  village  school- 
master still  willing  to  go  forth  and  teach  the  heathen.  I 
dream  of  boys  sitting  at  the  chimney-corner  who  shall  hear 
of  what  God  is  doing,  and  as  they  grow  up  shall  become 
Marshmans  and  Knibbs.  I  pray  God  it  may  be  so.  Pray 
for  men,  brethren.  A  man  is  more  precious  than  the  gold 
of  Ophir — a  man  who  stands  out  with  consecrated  spirit. 
O  God,  if  we  had  such  men  !  A  few  more  fresh  ones,  how 
they  might  stir  us  all  up  to  do  more  than  we  have  ever 
dreamed  of  for  the  cause  of  Christ !  Well,  but  we  want 
more  money,  too.  Yes,  and  you  have  got  it.  God  has 
trusted  His  Church  with  money  to  a  wonderful  extent.  I 
am  persuaded  that  we  must  rise  to  a  higher  style  of  giving 
before  the  Lord  will  ever  bless  the  nations  through  us 
to  any  great  extent.  Was  not  that  well  said,  that  our 
luxuries  cost  us  more  than  our  Lord }  Will  you  think  of 
that,  some  of  you  .?  Will  you  try  to  see  if  it  is  not  true } 
Put  down  any"  one  of  your  luxuries.  Luxuries!  Why, 
there  are  some  whose  stockings  cost  them  more  in  a  year 
than  they  ever  give  to  Christ.  More  is  spent  on  one's  neck 
or  foot,  more  sometimes  on  one's  little  finger,  than  was 
given  in  the  year  for  Christ.  Some  of  those  diamond  rings 
ought  to  go  into  the  plate  to-night.  And  there  are  plenty 
of  other  things  we  might  do  for  Christ.  I  hear  a  brother 
sometimes  say  that  he  gives  his  tithe.  And  what  wonderful 
sums  people  would  give  if  they  gave  their  tithes  punctually 
and  regularly  for  Christ !  But  I  hope  there  are  some  of  us 
who  would  never  come  down  to  a  tithe,  or  to  a  half,  who 
would  not  dare  to  go  to  our  beds  if  we  had  not  given  more 
than  half  of  what  God  has  given  to  us.  A  tithe  may  be 
heavy  to  a  man  of  one  estate  ;  but  to  another  man  it  would 
be  but  a  trifle  to  give  away  half  of  what  he  has.  The  first 
consideration  of  a  Christian  man  ought  to  be,  "  How  much 
can  I  do  for  Christ  } "  He  pays  his  way,  of  course  ;  but, 
that  being  done,  he  says  to  himself,  "  I  must  cut  down  every- 
thing but  my  Lord.  If  I  belong  to  Him,  and  all  that  I 
have,  for  Him  I  must  live."  "Ah!"  you  say,  "yours  is 
Utopian  talk."  I  know  it"  is  for  some  of  you,  but  it  is  not 
so  for  some  who,  having  tasted  and  tried  it,  do  confess  that 
the  more  they  give  the  more  they  have  ;  and,  better  still, 
they  do  not  glory  in  having  more,  since  it  only  brings  more 
responsibility;  but  it  gives  them  joy  and  peace  to  be  able 


8o  PLATI^ORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

to  consecrate  their  substance  to  their  Lord.  The  heathen 
are  perishing  !  Are  you  going  to  accumulate  money  ?  The 
heathen  are  perishing !  they  are  sinking  into  hell  !  You 
believe  in  no  higher  hope  by  which  they  will  come  out  of 
it  ;  you  believe  they  are  lost  for  ever,  at  least,  most  of  you  ; 
and  sliall  the  little  account  of  consols  be  added,  or  souls  be 
saved?  Shall  you  look  out  for  accumulating  a  fortune, 
getting  your  name  in  a  corner  of  the  Illustrated  London 
News  as  having  died  worth  so  much ;  or  shall  souls  be 
saved,  or,  at  least,  shall  your  part  of  the  work  of  conse- 
cration be  done  towards  the  work  of  their  salvation  ?  Let 
each  man  answer  for  himself — not  to-night,  but  in  the  quiet 
of  his  soul  before  the  living  God.  And,  dear  friends,  we 
must  get  up  higher  still  in  praying  about  missions.  I  know 
some  men  can  get  anything  they  like  in  prayer.  Oh,  for 
some  fiv^e  hundred  Elijahs,  each  one  upon  his  Carmel,  cry- 
ing unto  God  !  and  we  should  soon  have  the  clouds  bursting 
with  showers.  Prayer  !  Yes,  that  was  the  right  way  to 
begin  moving  that  debt — to  pray  about  it.  Oh,  for  more 
prayer — more  constant,  incessant  mention  of  the  mission 
cause  in  prayer!  and  then  the  blessing  will  be  sure  to  come. 
Some  mention  was  made  of  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and 
the  way  in  which  it  crippled  some  of  our  forefathers.  I 
believe  in  the  sovereignty  of  God  to  the  very  full,  and  in 
predestination.  I  believe  God  appoints  us  to  work  with 
all  our  hearts  for  Him.  I  believe  in  the  sovereignty  that 
gives  to  any  one  of  us  the  opportunity  of  doing  all  we  can. 
But  you  know  in  the  old  days  those  very  good  people  that 
were  so  very  sound,  though  they  defended  the  faith  and 
held  the  fort,  storming  the  fort  did  not  occur  to  them. 
They  were  like  a  pew  that  I  saw  in  a  parish  church  the 
other  day — very  high,  quite  shut  out,  and  spikes  all  over 
the  top — so  that  no  irregular  sinner  should  come  in.  Now, 
we  have  got  out  of  that  system.  We  have  taken  the  spikes 
down  ;  the  doors  will  open,  and  we  invite  others  in.  Well, 
that  is  a  right  spirit.  God  grant  that  we  may  keep  on  with 
it !  not  giving  up  precious  truth,  but  having  with  it  a  noble 
spirit  for  the  glory  of  Christ.  I  meet  with  some  few  still 
who  are  very  firm  and  staunch,  and  very  strong,  who  do 
not  go  with  any  very  active  effort ;  and  they  are  like  a  tree 
that  I  saw  in  New  Forest  some  time  ago — an  iron  beech. 
You  could  not  possibly  cut  it ;  it  would  break  your  knife 


WORKING    WITH  GOD,  Si 


or  your  axe  before  you  could  make  a  mark  upon  it.  There 
are  some  few  such,  but  it  is  a  pity  to  waste  knives  and  axes 
upon  them.  The  thing  is  to  go  on  to  some  that  can  be 
moulded  and  moved,  and  I  would  say  to  such,  "  Dear 
friends,  you  sometimes  say,  *  Will  the  heathen  be  saved  if 
we  do  not  send  the  missionaries  } '  I  will  ask  you  another 
question,  *  Will  you  be  saved  if  you  do  not  send  out  any 
missionaries  } '  because  I  have  very  serious  doubts  about 
whether  you  will."  Do  not  smile.  The  man  that  does 
nothing  for  His  Master,  will  he  be  saved  ?  The  man  that 
never  cares  about  the  perishing  heathen,  is  he  saved  }  Is 
he  like  Christ  1  If  he  be  not  like  Christ,  and  have  not  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  then  he  is  none  of  His.  "  Well,"  says  a 
young  man,  **  I  have  been  arguing  with  myself  whether  I 
should  go."  I  will  tell  you  another  thing  to  argue.  Take 
it  for  granted  that  you  ought  to  go,  unless  you  can  prove 
that  you  should  not.  Every  Christian  man  is  bound  to 
give  himself  to  the  Master's  work  in  that  department  which 
most  needs  him,  and  that  is  foreign  missions,  unless  he  can 
prove  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  he  ought  not,  and  that 
he  has  not  the  gift.  I  wish  that  could  be  learned  by  our 
men.  You  want  a  call  to  the  ministry.  I  believe  that  is 
right,  but  those  who  can  speak  well  ought  rather  to  try 
and  show  that  they  are  not  bound  to  preach,  and  if  they 
can  show  that,  they  are  excused  ;  but  they  ought  to  go 
through  that  process  first.  You  are  bound,  brother,  unless 
you  can  show  that  God  in  His  providence  has  utterly  pre- 
vented you.  The  other  night  I  started  up  in  such  a  fright. 
I  dreamed  that  my  heart  had  stopped,  and  the  sweat  was 
on  my  brow.  I  had  my  watch  on  the  table  by  my  side, 
and  it  was  very  singular  that  the  watch  had  stopped  just 
at  that  very  minute.  I  suppose  my  ear  missed  the  tick, 
and  had  invented  the  dream  that  my  heart  had  stopped. 
Ah  !  I  wish  that  some  Christian,  whenever  he  feels  that 
works  of  piety  are  not  being  carried  on  by  him,  would  start 
up  in  a  fright,  and  say,  "  Ah  !  is  my  heart  stopped  1  After 
all,  am  I  a  Christian  or  not  ? "  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them  " — that  is,  other  people.  Don't  you  think  you 
ought  to  know  yourself  very  much  that  way  }  When  you 
are  doing  no  more  for  Christ,  ought  you  not  to  question 
whether  you  love  Him  1  When  I  was  at  Mentone,  I  heard 
that  the  land  before  the  English  came  there  used  to  be 


82  PLATFORM  AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

valued  by  the  number  of  olive  trees  on  it.  That  is  the  way 
to  value  yourselves,  to  value  the  Church — by  productive- 
ness. Do  you  produce  anything  for  Christ.  When  at 
Marseilles  they  were  putting  a  fire  in  my  chamber  one  day 
for  my  rheumatism,  I  saw  the  man  putting  something  in 
the  fire-place,  and  I  asked  him  to  let  me  look  at  it.  It 
was  what  I  thought,  vine  branches.  If  a  vine  branch  bear 
no  fruit,  it  is  good  for  nothing.  You  cannot  make  it  into 
the  smallest  useful  article.  Shall  a  man  even  hang  a  pot 
upon  the  fire  thereby }  It  is  good  for  nothing  but  to  be 
burned  if  it  be  not  fruitful.  The  fruitless  efforts  of  a  pro- 
fessor of  science  may  have  some  sort  of  use  ;  but  a  fruitless 
Christian  is  good  for  nothing.  **Men  gather  them,  and 
they  are  cast  into  the  fire,  and  they  are  burned."  I  began 
with  the  privilege  of  working  for  Christ ;  I  close  with  the 
necessity  of  working  for  Christ.  If  you  do  not  bear  fruit 
to  Him,  are  you  His  disciples  at  all  .'*  Can  you  prove  that 
you  belong  to  Him  }  Salvation  is  not  of  works,  but  sal- 
vation produces  works,  and  such  works  as  those  which  show 
themselves  in  our  missionary  operations.  I  speak  as  unto 
wise  men.  Judge  ye  what  I  say.  By  the  dying  myriads 
I  do  beseech  you  arise  to  work  with  Christ  for  their  sal- 
vation. By  His  blood  and  wounds,  which  brought  you  from 
your  own  destruction,  cease  not  both  to  pray  and  to  labour 
until  the  hymn  with  which  my  predecessor  finished  shall 
be  heard  all  over  the  world — 

"Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run." 


IV.  The  Jews.     ^/ Rev.  Dr.  Moody  Stuart, 

I  WOULD  call  attention  to  these  four  things — What  others 
are  now  saying  of  the  Jews,  what  the  Jews  are  now  saying 
of  themselves,  what  they  are  now  saying  of  us,  and  what 
we  may  now  think  and  say  and  do  for  them. 

I.  What  others  are  saying  of  the  Jews.  On  this  I  shall 
read  an  extract  from  Scotland,  from  England,  and  from 
France.  In  a  number  of  the  EdinbiirgJi  Revieiv  we  find 
this  passage  :  — 

"  The  annals  of  Israel  present,  and  have  presented  for 


THE  JEWS.  83 


forty  centuries,  a  unique  phenomenon  in  history.  The 
Jews  alone  have  emerged,  Hving  and  unchanged,  from  the 
remotest  antiquity  to  the  nineteenth  century.  Their  present 
power  and  influence  in  human  affairs  is  perhaps  greater 
than  ever  it  was  before  ;  and  we  doubt  not,  though 
probably  in  some  manner  unforeseen  by  the  interpreters  of 
prophecy,  that  the  ulterior  destinies  of  the  Hebrew  people 
will  continue  to  mark  their  track  in  the  history  of  mankind." 
The  Jews  as  a  nation  have  "emerged  ;  "  they  have  risen  in 
our  own  day  out  of  the  depths  of  contempt  and  neglect, 
and  have  come  to  the  surface  again.  Yet  few  are  struck 
with  this  change,  which  an  English  writer  puts  in  these 
words — 

"Nothing  in  our  time  is  more  remarkable  than  the 
change  in  the  kind  of  interest  which  is  taken  in  the  future 
and  character  of  the  Hebrew  race.  For  ages  Christians 
have  had  rather  an  archaeological  heed  of  the  people  who 
were  their  religious  ancestors,  and  have  limited  their  con- 
cern to  the  religious  books  and  the  ancient  doings  of  a 
nation  once  the  people  of  God,  but  who  forfeited  their 
right  by  the  rejection  of  Christ,  and  virtually  became 
heathen.  Since  that  fatal  act  the  Jews  have  been  as  good 
as  dead  to  a  vast  majority  of  the  Christian  world,  and  have 
been  known  only  as  subjects  of  persecution  and  outrage  of 
every  kind.  But  all  that  is  strangely  changed.  The  lost 
honour  of  the  Jews  has  been  restored.  The  persecutions 
have  ceased.  The  Jews  are  in  the  high  places  of  trust 
and  power — Ministers  of  Finance,  Ministers  of  Education, 
peers  of  the  realm,  mayors  of  great  cities,  senators  in  the 
Assembly,  close  counsellers  of  the  kings.  But  so  silently 
has  this  change  in  the  position  of  the  Jewish  community 
of  late  years  been  brought  about,  that  it  seems  to  have 
attracted  very  little  notice.  It  has  been  accepted  as  a 
matter  of  course." 

Again,  a  thoughtful  French  author  writes  : — 
"The  Jews  attract  at  the  present  day,  to  a  greater 
degree  than  at  any  previous  period,  the  attention  of  the 
world.  The  cause  of  their  long  melancholy  history  with 
no  vitality  is  written  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  It 
is  the  mystery  of  God's  justice — the  most  remarkable  and 
significant  of  all  events  recorded  in  the  annals  of  humanity. 
But   with   the  Jews   of   our  day  there  has   arisen  a  new 


84  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

situation,  evidently  transitory — they  float  between  the  past 
and  the  future.  They  do  not  wish  for  Christianity  ;  and 
they  pursue  with  an  implacable  zeal  those  few  amongst 
them  who  have  believed  this  revelation.  Yet  everywhere 
there  is,  as  it  were,  a  shaking  of  the  bones  amongst  Israelites. 
From  every  quarter  of  the  globe  where  they  are  dispersed 
they  are  agitating  and  aspiring  after  a  new  order  of  things. 
The  present  time  is  evidently  a  transitionary  state  be- 
tween the  immobility  of  the  past  eighteen  centuries  and  a 
future  regeneration,  which  can  only  be  effected  by  the 
gospel." 

2.  What  the  Jews  are  saying  of  themselves.  They  say, 
first,  that  the  present  state  of  religious  opinion  in  this  and 
other  countries  is  a  loud  call  to  them  to  be  the  Lord's 
''  witnesses  ;  '•'  to  testify  for  the  God  of  the  Bible  against 
materialism  and  atheism.  This  call  they  are  constantly 
urging  in  their  publications,  and  in  their  sermons,  from 
which  we  quote  a  single  example  : — 

"  The  Rev.  Professor  Marks  preached  at  the  Berkeley 
Street  Synagogue  from  2  Chronicles  xxx.,  taking  into  his 
text  the  address  delivered  by  King  Hezekiah  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  festival  which  the  Scripture  describes  as  '  the 
memorable  Passover.'  The  preacher  said — We  move  in 
our  own  times  amidst  such  an  extraordinary  transition  of 
opinion  as  regards  the  divine  element  in  the  Bible,  that  we 
Jews  require  more  than  ever  to  be  reminded  of  our  sacred 
mission  as  '  witnesses  of  the  Lord.'  Rationalism  and 
positivism  were  rampant,  and  the  popular  scientific  liter- 
ature had  become  so  disintegrating  and  destructive,  that  it 
employed  every  artifice  of  speculation  to  discredit  the  idea 
of  a  revelation  of  moral  truth.  Nay,  more,  it  ignored  the 
bare  conception  of  a  great  First  Cause,  denied  the  sovereign- 
ty of  mind  over  matter,  and  treated  what  we  Jews  have 
reverenced  as  Biblical  truths  as  things  antecedently  and 
intrinsically  improbable.  Observing,  then,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  credulity  and  extravagance  of  Ultramontanism, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  open  and  profane  avowal  of 
frigid  Materialism,  did  it  not  seem  as  if  the  time  were  ap- 
proaching when  Jews  should  be  reminded,  as  in  the  age 
of  Hezekiah,  that  it  behoved  them  especially  to  be  true  to 
their  mission,  and  to  maintain  in  the  world  the  Divine 
element  of  the  Bible,  as  it  became  'the  witnesses  of  the 


THE  JEWS,  85 


Lord.'  The  Passover  should  admonish  us,  as  it  did  our 
ancestors,  to  be  true  to  our  mission,  and  to  maintain,  by  our 
teachings  and  by  our  practices,  that  faith  in  the  Divine 
Word  which  is  Israel's  heritage;  that  faith  which  harmonises 
with  an  inward  revelation  ;  that  faith  which  alone  gives 
a  reasonable  solution  of  man's  origin  and  end." 

They  say  next,  that  it  is  not  fair  to  the  Jews  that 
Christians  should  condemn  them  for  sins  in  their  character 
which  have  been  burned  into  them  by  long  ages  of  ill- 
treatment  and  persecution  by  Christians, — the  avarice  and 
the  cunning  which  were  once  so  associated  with  the  name 
of  "Jew,"  and  which  they  own  to  be  characteristic  of  many 
of  their  nation.  But  so  far  as  in  these  respects  they  are 
worse  than  other  men,  they  lay  the  blame  on  the  treat- 
ment they  have  received  from  Christians.  Of  that  treat- 
ment Lord  Macaulay  said  in  Parliament  that  "  300  \'ears 
ago  the  Jews  had  no  legal  right  to  be  in  England,  and  600 
years  ago  they  had  no  legal  right  to  the  teeth  in  their 
heads."  Of  old  God  said  of  Israel's  treatment  by  their 
enemies,  "  I  was  but  a  little  angry  and  they  helped  forward 
the  affliction;"  and  this  was  terribly  brought  out  at  the 
time  of  the  Crusades,  when  their  severest  persecution 
began,  as  described  in  the  following  extract : — 

*'  The  massacre  of  the  Jews  en  masse  commenced  in  the 
Crusades  ;  in  the  year  1096  fourteen  thousand  of  them  are 
said  to  have  been  killed  at  Mayence.  These  atrocities 
increased  in  number  and  reached  their  maximum  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  It  was  a  common  practice  to  fall 
upon  them  unawares.  If  they  fled  into  their  synagogues 
or  houses,  these  were  set  on  fire,  and  those  who  sought  to 
escape  were  hurled  back  into  the  flames.  Even  magis- 
trates were  seen  joining  or  even  heading  mobs  in  the  per- 
petration of  these  crimes.  The  devastation  by  the  black 
death  gave  rise  to  a  universal  persecution  of  the  Jews. 
They  were  accused  of  having  poisoned  the  wells,  and  they 
were  put  to  death  amidst  the  most  exquisite  tortures.  The 
mob  called  '  flagellants '  made  it  its  special  business  to 
fanaticise  the  multitude  against  them.  A  jubilee  it  was 
thought  could  not  be  more  fittingly  celebrated  than  by  a 
massacre  of  Jews.  The  despair  to  which  these  unfortu- 
nates were  driven  is  betokened  by  the  circumstance  that 
in   many  places,  in  order  to  escape  the  tortures  of  their 


86  PLATFORM  AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

persecutors,  they  threw  themselves  into  the  flames  kindled 
for  them." 

In  the  harsh  treatment  of  the  Jews  in  Roumania  the 
old  spirit  of  bitter  hatred  against  them  still  remained,  if 
the    following   account    can    be  credited : — 

"  In  a  collection  of  arithmetical  problems,  given  by 
Roumanian  teachers  to  their  pupils  as  exercises  in  the  four 
rules,  is  the  following  among  other  similar  questions  : — If 
a  small  town  contains  4000  Jewish  inhabitants,  of  whom 
800  are  thrown  into  the  Danube  and  drowned,  900  killed, 
and  1000  stabbed  during  the  melee,  how  many  after  a 
thorough  pillage  will  there  remain  to  be  hunted  down  ?" 

This  seems  incredible  at  the  present  day,  but  it  is  only 
a  faint  shadow  of  the  sufferings  of  Israel  in  the  past.  It 
is  said  that  Israel  is  the  only  people  on  the  earth  which 
treasures  up  the  memory  of  her  calamities  and  keeps  their 
anniversaries.  Even  the  Passover,  with  its  joyful  memo- 
ries, was  turned  into  a  season  of  sadness. 

"Naturally  this  festival  should  be  the  most  cheerful  of 
all  celebrated  in  Israel.  And  so  it  was  for  long  centuries 
until  the  outburst  of  fanaticism  connected  it  with  recollec- 
tions of  the  saddest  and  most  woeful  kind.  It  was  Pass- 
over which  the  ferocious  persecutors  of  the  Jews  selected 
by  way  of  preference  for  those  terrible  charges  known  as 
the  blood  accusations.  How  often,  alas !  was  the  night 
called  in  Scripture  the  night  of  watching  transformed  into 
a  season  of  restlessness,  of  unutterable  woe  and  distress,  of 
spoliation,  torture,  and  murder.  The  most  cheerful  festival 
of  the  year  was  looked  forward  to  with  trembling  and 
terror." 

The  words  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  Jew  have  been 
sadly  justified — "  Sufferance  is  the  badge  of  all  our  tribe  ; 
no  ill  luck  stirring  but  what  lights  on  my  shoulders  ;  no 
sighs,  but  of  my  breathing  ;  no  tears,  but  of  my  shedding." 

"  Oh  !  weep  for  those  that  wept  by  Babel's  stream, 
Whose  shrines  are  desolate,  whose  land  's  a  dream  ; 
Weep  for  the  harp  of  Judah's  broken  shell  ; 
Mourn,  where  their  God  hath  dwelt  the  godless  dwell. 

"And  where  shall  Israel  lave  their  bleeding  feet.? 
And  when  shall  Zion's  song  again  seem  sweet? 
And  Judah's  melody  once  more  rejoice 
The  hearts  that  leap'd  before  its  heavenly  voice  ? 


THE  JEWS.  87 


*^  Tribes  of  the  wandering  foot  and  weary  breast, 
How  shall  ye  flee  away  and  be  at  rest  ? 
The  wild  dove  hath  her  nest,  the  fox  his  cave, 
Mankind  their  country,  Israel  but  the  grave  !" 

A  Jewish  writer  says :  "  It  is  these  persecutions  which 
have  raised  that  terrible  wall  of  partition  which  for  cen- 
turies has  separated  Jew  from  Christian,  has  isolated  the 
former  amidst  the  teeming  multitudes,  and  has  excluded 
him  from  the  current  of  thought  which  went  on  vitalising 
and  invigorating  the  civilized  world.  .  It  is  these  persecu- 
tions which  have  given  a  twist  to  the  Jewish  character, 
and  have  moulded  his  feelings  and  views."  On  this 
ground  the  Jews  plead  that  their  national  character  could 
not  escape  deterioration.  They  say  that  the  strength  of 
the  Jewish  character  is  that  it  does  not  despair  ;  but  that 
the  worst  parts  of  their  character  have  been  fostered  by 
their  being  debarred  from  possessing  or  cultivating  lands 
in  the  country,  or  engaging  in  handicrafts  in  the  cities,  and 
being  shut  up  to  the  one  resource  of  traffic  ;  and  that 
in  trading  with  their  oppressors,  it  was  no  wonder  if,  in 
retaliation,  many  of  them  learned  to  be  money-loving,  and 
cunning,  and  even  dishonest ;  but  that  now  when  the 
oppression  has  generally  ceased,  the  national  character  is 
steadily  rising. 

Of  themselves  the  Jews  say  further  that  there  appears 
to  be  the  dawning  of  the  day  that  will  restore  them  to  the 
land  of  their  fathers.  The  restoration  of  Israel  to  their 
own  land  is  not  declared  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is 
not  an  article  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  but  it  is  hard  to 
conceive  that  the  promise  was  given  to  Israel  that  in  the 
latter  day  all  nations  shall  sit  under  their  own  vine  and 
fig-tree,  and  that  Israel  alone,  of  all  nations,  shall  have 
been  kept  alive  only  to  sit  under  the  strangers'  vine,  and 
under  a  foreign  fig-tree.  But  their  restoration  to  their 
land,  though  not  an  article  of  our  creed,  must  be  regarded 
as  one  of  theirs.  The  Rationalistic  Jews  in  Germany  have 
deleted  from  their  service  the  prayers  both  for  their  return 
to  the  land  and  for  the  restoration  of  the  temple  ;  but,  to 
give  up  the  idea  and  the  hope  of  sacrifices  in  the  temple, 
is  virtually  to  abandon  the  Jewish  religion.  In  Russia  the 
old  Jewish  faith  in  these  and  all  other  respects  remains  for 
the  most  part  unchanged;  but  many  also  of  the  Jews  in 


88  PLATFORM  AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

England  look  for  their  restoration  to  Palestine,  and  are 
watching  with  intense  interest  what  they  regard  as  the 
opening  up  of  their  way.  But  I  shall  speak  of  this  under 
my  next  note,  which  is — 

3.  What  the  Jews  are  saying  of  us.  First,  they  speak 
kindly  of  us  as  Christians.  Last  November,  regarding 
what  they  called  "  the  day  of  intercession,"  they  wrote  : — 

"  The  30th  of  this  month  will  be  a  red  letter  day  in  the 
missionary  annals  of  this  country.  On  that  day,  at  the 
recommendation  of  the  Primate,  intercession  will  be  offered 
up  by  the  faithful  all  over  the  kingdom  and  the  United 
States  for  the  success  of  the  missions  established  for 
effecting  the  conversion  of  mankind  to  Christianity. 
Although  we  Jews  may  not  participate  in  these  prayers, 
yet  we  may  cordially  sympathise  with  their  object,  for, 
in  comparison  with  the  religions  professed  by  so  many 
Gentile  nations,  Christianity  shines  forth  with  great  splen- 
dour." 

But  7iext,  as  endeavouring  to  convert  them  to  Chris- 
tianity, they  look  on  us  as  enemies  for  the  gospel's  sake, 
and  they  write  : — 

"  Ours  is  a  time  when  all  religion  is  endangered. 
Science,  divorcing  itself  from  all  positive  religion,  en- 
deavours to  drag  the  intelligence  of  the  civilised  world 
after  it.  Everywhere  attacks  are  made  upon  revealed 
religion,  and  even  theism  is  no  longer  accepted  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  scientists.  Materialism  or  nihilism  is  the 
common  watchword.  Is  this  the  time  for  the  Church  to 
turn  her  weapon  against  a  body  which  has  a  common 
interest  with  her,  and  which  in  the  hour  of  trial  should 
rather  be  treated  as  an  ally  than  an  enemy }  Would  it 
not  be  wiser  for  Church  and  synagogue  to  unite  in  order 
to  repel  the  common  foe  and  to  avert  the  common 
danger?"  They  also  maintain  that  "the  Jews  are  now 
more  numerous,  more  influential,  better  organised,  and 
more  firmly  devoted  to  their  religion  than  they  were 
before  the  missionaries  went  to  work." 

This  may  be  true ;  they  have  certainly  advanced  in 
number,  influence,  and  organisation  ;  and  a  greater  devo- 
tion to  their  own  religion  is  sometimes  an  indirect  fruit  of 
Christian  zeal  on  their  behalf  But  it  is  also  true  that  a 
large  number  out  of  Israel  have  been  gathered  into  the 


THE  JEWS. 


Church  of  Christ,  and  not  a  few  of  them  have  been  exem- 
plary Christians  ;  and  our  missionaries  have  often  said  of 
the  IsraeHtes  amongst  whom  they  laboured,  that  they  had 
little  hope  of  their  conversion  to  Christianity  till  they 
saw  them  become  more  earnest  Jews.  And  it  is  likewise 
certain  that  since  the  missionaries  went  to  work,  there  has 
been  widely  diffused  among  the  Jews,  as  there  never  was  be- 
fore, a  knowledge  of  Christian  doctrine  and  of  our  interpre- 
tation of  Old  Testament  texts  which,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
will  prepare  the  way  for  the  reception  of  Christ  Himself. 

But  further,  regarding  what  the  Jews  are  saying  of  us  ; 
notwithstanding  our  efforts  for  their  conversion,  which 
they  resent,  the  Jews  speak  of  the  British  nation  as  their 
best  friends,  not  only  for  the  liberty  they  enjoy  in  our 
land,  but  also  for  the  value  which  we  set  on  their  Hebrew 
Bible.  They  partly  mistake  us  in  this  from  misappre- 
hending how  fully  we  regard  the  Old  Testament  as  the 
foundation  of  the  New,  and  receive  them  both  as  the 
halves  of  the  one  Book  of  God.  They  hold  that  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  are  fitted  to  form  heroes,  and  the 
Greek  Scriptures  to  form  martyrs  ;  and  they  say  that  in 
our  great  national  struggles  for  religious  and  civil  liberty 
we  laid  aside  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  took  for  our 
watchword  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon."  We 
hold  that  the  two  halves  of  the  Bible  are  one,  and  that,  if 
we  receive  the  entire  book,  it  will  make  both  heroes  and 
martyrs;  for  "all  Scripture  is  profitable  for  instruction 
in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect, 
throughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works."  But  they  respect 
us  because  we  reverence  their  Bible.  In  the  report  on 
your  table  an  account  is  given  of  a  young  Jew  in  Hungary, 
who  expressed  unbounded  surprise  when  he  learned  %hat 
Christians  study  the  Old  Testament  and  know  it  well. 
The  English  Jews  are  well  aware  of  our  esteem  for  their 
Scriptures,  and  therefore  they  cannot  withhold  their 
esteem  from  us.  This  is  brought  out  in  an  interesting 
way  in  the  expression  of  their  hopes  for  a  speedy  return 
to  their  own  land.  Six  months  ago  their  leading  periodical, 
\.\\^  Jewish  Chronicle,  wrote  in  these  terms  : — 

"  The  dreaded  Eastern  Question  has  at  last  really  come 
to  the  fore.  If  an  immediate  solution  is  pressed,  a  fierce 
struggle  must  and  will  ensue.     The  Turk  will  not  tamely 


90  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MSS SIGNS. 

submit  to  the  dismemberment  of  his  dominions.  He  will 
die  hard.  And  what  will  be  England's  part  in  this  strife  } 
Not  another  Crimean  war.  She  will  not  risk  a  second 
time  valuable  lives  and  precious  treasure,  to  aid  those  that 
cannot  or  will  not  aid  themselves.  But  one  thing  England 
must  and  will  do  for  her  self-protection.  The  nearest  way 
to  her  Indian  Empire  must  remain  open  to  her.  She  must 
obtain  the  suzerainty  of  Egypt,  and  the  sovereignty  of 
Syria.  And  Palestine  t  Let  it  for  a  time  remain  in  the 
keeping  of  England.  It  is  quite  safe  in  her  hands.  Let 
it  remain  in  her  hands  until  its  savagery  has  been  sub- 
dued, its  wastes  built  up,  and  it  has  become  fit  to  be  a 
high-road  for  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  it  remain  in 
the  beneficent  power  of  England  until  a  highway  is  made 
through  the  desert,  and  Jerusalem  and  Cairo  be  joined  by 
an  iron  path.  We  have  no  wish  to  penetrate  into  the 
mysteries  of  the  future  until  Providence  be  pleased  to  cast 
another  ray  into  the  darkness,  and  light  it  up  for  the  next 
step.  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  good  thereof.  We  can- 
not but  follow  with  the  greatest  tension  the  complicated 
movements  on  the  grand  chess-board  disclosed  before  our 
eyes.  Our  interest  is  deep  in  the  game.  Our  fervent 
hope  is,  if  the  Turk  is  to  be  dispossessed  of  Syria,  that 
England  and  no  other  Power  will  be  his  heir.  It  would 
be  truly  extraordinary  if  after  eight  centuries  the  days  of 
the  lion-hearted  king  should  come  back  and  an  English 
army  again  tread  the  soil  of  Palestine.  But  as  we  have 
said,  we  must  patiently  await  the  unfolding  of  the  designs 
of  Providence.  Thus  much,  however,  we  may  say  ;  that 
if  Israel  is  to  be  indebted  to  any  human  agency  for  the 
realization  of  her  highest  hopes,  from  none  would  she 
accept  this  service  with  greater  satisfaction  than  from  the 
Power  which  of  all  others  in  Europe  has  manifested  the 
profoundest  veneration  for  the  sacred  records  entrusted 
to  Israel,  as  also  for  the  holy  men  who  have  been  instru- 
mental in  their  composition,  and  which  has  in  modern 
time  exhibited  such  a  warm  and  sincere  interest  in  her 
fate."  I  make  this  quotation  merely  to  show  the  feelings 
of  the  Jews  toward  Britain,  notwithstanding  our  efforts  to 
Christianise  them. 

Three  weeks  ago,   after  noticing  some  passing  events, 
they  write  again  : — 


THE  JEWS.  91 


"There  seems  to  be  something  providential,  by  way  of 
eminence,  in  all  these  coincidences.  Devout  minds  will 
not  fail  to  perceive  in  this  the  finger  of  God.  We  will  not 
pry  into  the  designs  of  Providence.  In  due  time  the  veil 
will  be  lifted  and  we  shall  see  the  fresh  developments  in 
store  for  us.  At  the  present  moment  it  appears  to  us  that 
the  design   Providence  seems  to  work  at   would  be  best 


promoted  if,  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Turkish  Empire, 
which  cannot  be  so  far  off,  England  were  impelled  to 
extend  her  protecting  hand  over  Syria.  No  contingency 
would  be  hailed  by  the  Jewish  people  with  greater  satis- 
faction than  such  a  turn  of  affairs  in  the  East.  England 
has  given  so  many  proofs  of  her  friendly  feeling  towards 
the  Jevyish  people  that  they  could  not  wish  to  see  the  land 
of  their  forefathers  under  a  safer  keeping  than  that  of 
Great  Britain.  Whatever  Government  is  in  power,  whether 
it  be  Liberal  or  Conservative,  there  is  no  difference  in  its 
behaviour  to  the  Jews.  And  if  the  English  are  not  the 
brethren  of  the  Jews  in  the  flesh,  as  is  contended  by  those 
who  maintain  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  are  descended  from 
the  ten  tribes,  they  certainly  act  towards  them  as  kinsmen 
in  spirit  and  feii^ling.  We  have  given  expression  to  our 
heartfelt  wishes  in  this  matter.  But  Providence  will,  of 
course,  go  its  own  way.  We  must  quietly  await  the  dis- 
entanglement of  the  complications  becoming  thicker  and 
thicker  in  the  East.  The  solution  of  the  problem  cannot 
be  delayed  much  longer." 

Next,  when  we  cannot  speak  to  themselves  face  to  face, 
let  us  speak  to  the  Lord  on  their  behalf  Prayer  on  their 
behalf  is  increasing,  but  let  it  be  more  earnest  and  more 
abundant;  and  especially  on  their  Sabbath,  on  Friday 
evening  or  Saturday  morning.  When  they  are  reading 
their  Scriptures  let  us  pray  that  their  eyes  may  be  opened, 
to  see^that  "the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phecy." Let  us  remember  them  also  in  their  annual  day 
of  sorrow  and  confession  and  supplication,  the  great  day 
of  Atonement.  Most  touching  to  us  is  the  sight  of  the 
millions  of  Israel  yearning  for  reconciliation,  yet  blind  to 
the  one  reconciling  sacrifice,  and  confessing—"  Sovereign 
of  the  universe !  whilst  the  holy  temple  stood,  if  a  man 
sinned  he  brought  an  offering  and  made  an  atonement ; 
but  now  because  of  our  iniquities,  we  have  neither  sane- 


92  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

tuary,  nor  altar,  nor  offering,  nor  priest  to  make  atonement 
for  us.  There  is  nothing  left  us  but  the  commemoration 
of  them.     Oh  may  that  be  our  expiation." 

Before  the  day  of  Atonement  last  year  they  wrote  : — 

"  In  different  houses  of  prayer,  in  many  different  and 
distant  lands,  the  same  assemblage  will  be  seen,  the  same 
mingling  of  sunny  youth  and  snow-crowned  age,  the  same 
blending  of  all  the  most  opposite  types  of  human  character, 
welded  together  on  this  day  alone  of  all  the  year  by  the 
one  magic  charm — the  yearning  for  reconciliation.  Nothing 
can  aid  us  but  our  own  contrition,  our  own  good  re- 
solves ;  with  them  we  win  everything.  Before  to- 
morrow's sun  shall  have  set,  may  we  lay  our  throbbing 
hearts,  with  all  their  freight  of  failings,  submissively  before 
the  All-merciful,  and  pray  for  pardon,  reconciliation,  peace. 
And  when  the  shrill  note  of  the  trumpet  rings  out  in  the 
evening  stillness,  it  shall  be  echoed  by  the  Voice  which 
speaks  as  with  trumpet  sound,  in  the  peaceful  hush  of  the 
soul,  its  thrice  welcome  message — '  Forgiven.'  " 

How  strange  to  us  these  words  sound  in  the  lips  of  a 
Jew — "  Pardon,  reconciliation,  peace."  Oh  that  they  knew 
Him  in  whom  alone  they  are  found.  The  day  of  Atone- 
ment falls  this  year  on  Thursday,  28th  September,  and  we 
trust  that  on  it  Israel  will  be  remembered  by  many  before 
Israel's  God.  Let  us  go  to  them  ;  let  us  pray  for  them  ; 
and  further,  let  us  think  of  them.  Let  us  think  of  them  in 
whatever  is  best  in  their  character  and  aspirations,  and 
fitted  to  draw  out  our  Christian  sympathies.  In  convers- 
ing with  Jews,  it  is  very  distressing  to  find  how  different 
their  views  are  from  ours,  even  where  we  might  expect  to 
meet  on  common  ground,  such  as  the  conviction  of  sin,  as 
brought  out  in  the  51st  Psalm.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
an  extract,  such  as  the  following,  from  a  Jewish  newspaper 
illustrates  the  Bible  quite  in  the  same  manner  as  we  should 
illustrate  it : — 

"  One  of  the  most  interesting  things  in  the  Holy  Land 
is  the  fact  that  one  meets  everywhere  in  daily  life  things 
that  illustrate  the  Word  of  the  Eternal.  The  streets  of 
Jerusalem  are  very  narrow,  and  no  one  is  allowed  to  go 
out  at  night  without  a  light.  Throw  open  your  lattice  in 
the  evening  and  look  out,  you  will  see  what  seem  to  be 
little  stars  twinkling  on  the  pavement.     You  will  hear  the 


THE  JEWS,  93 


clatter  of  sandals  as  the  late  traveller  rattles  along.  As 
the  party  approaches,  you  will  see  that  he  has  a  little  lamp 
fastened  to  his  foot,  to  make  his  step  a  safe  one.  Instantly 
the  verse  comes  to  your  memory,  written  in  that  same  city 
three  thousand  years  ago,  '  Thy  word  is  a  lamp  to  my  feet, 
and  a  light  to  my  path.' "  Again,  the  following  sentence 
on  the  Passover  has  much  in  it  to  strike  a  chord  in  our 
hearts  : — 

"Never  let  us  forget  that  the  Passover,  which  is  the 
memorial  of  the  first  redemption  of  our  ancestors  from  the 
bondage  of  Egypt,  is  the  type  of  the  coming,  though  long 
delayed,  redemption  from  the  bondage  of  a  world  of  pas- 
sion, sin,  and  fear — the  promised  redemption  which  shall 
bring  our  people  back  to  the  land  they  won  by  faith  and 
lost  in  shame." 

In  closing,  I  would  quote  a  portion  of  some  verses  re- 
cited by  three  Hebrew  boys  in  the  Stepney  Jewish  schools. 
They  look  forward  to  a  Messiah  that  is  to  bring  peace  to 
Israel  and  to  the  world,  and  they  are  blind  to  the  Messiah 
whom  their  fathers  crucified,  and  who  will  bring  peace  to 
them  and  to  the  world  only  when  they  look  on  Him  whom 
they  have  pierced,  and  mourn  because  of  Him.  But  the 
Christian's  own  first  desires  for  salvation,  and  many  of  his 
subsequent  desires,  are  fulfilled  far  otherwise  than  his 
hopes,  yet  they  had  in  them  that  which  ended  in  salvation 
through  a  strait  gate  ;  and  there  is  much  in  these  verses 
with  which  we  cannot  but  have  a  measure  of  sympathy, 
and  they  are  fitted  to  draw  out  a  fellow-feeling  for  Israel. 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore  was  present  at  the  examination  just 
before  his  departure,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  and  for  the 
seventh  time  to  the  land  of  his  fathers.  The  schools  are 
in  the  east  end  of  London,  and  a  large  number  of  Hebrew 
parents  were  present,  while  there  was  a  brilliant  assemblage 
of  Jewish  gentlemen  and  ladies,  including  many  represen- 
tatives of  the  intellect  and  rank  of  the  Hebrew  community. 
The  sentiments  expressed,  and  especially  the  hopes  for 
the  Messiah,  were  responded  to  with  raptures  of  applause, 
and  the  subject  of  the  verses  recalls  the  memorable  words 
of  .Hercier,  that  Israel's  still  uncompleted  guidance  is  the 
grandest  poem  of  all  time  " — 


94  PLATFORM  AIDS-FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


The  Past. 

"When  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem  l" 

On  distant  shores  in  happier  times, 
In  sterner  days  but  brighter  chmes, 
The  banner  of  his  Fatherland 
The  Jew  upheld  with  steady  hand  ; 
The  throne  of  Judah's  princely  line — 
The  Temple  on  the  height  divine— 
The  pleasant  homes  where  wife  and  child 
Beneath  the  hallowed  roof-tree  smiled. 
Oh  !  lovely  land  ;  blithe,  bright,  and  blest  ! 
Sweet  cedars  capped  thy  mountains'  crest — 
What  laughing  fields  !  what  stately  trees  ! 
What  fragrant  myrtles  kissed  the  breeze  ! 
The  purple  grape,  the  golden  grain, 
Decked  grassy  glade  and  pleasant  plain. 

The  Present. 

"  We  hung  our  harps  on  the  willows." 

Where  are  thine  ancient  splendours  now  ? 

No  circlet  sits  on  Judah's  brow  ! 

No  Temple  rears  its  halls  of  state ; 

No  high-born  elders  throng  the  gate  ; 

No  laughing  harvests  crown  the  fields, 

No  sparkling  wine  the  berry  yields. 

No  trade-ships  in  the  harbour  dance, 

No  foeman  fears  our  broken  lance. 

The  raven  flies  o'er  fields  unsown, 

To  brood  on  Judah's  shattered  throne  ! 

All,  all  is  lost  !     Alas,  no  more 

The  sounds  of  life  bless  Israel's  shore — 

Our  harp  is  on  the  willow  hung. 

All  voiceless,  tuneless,  and  unstrung  ! 

The  Future. 

"  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  rise.* 

All  is  ?tot  lost  !     In  yonder  skies 
I  see  the  gleams  of  hope  arise. 
Star  of  the  East  !  Thy  glimmering  ray 
Is  brightening  "  to  the  perfect  day." 
Again  shall  Judah's  flag  unfurled 
Wave  forth  its  signals  to  the  world  ! 
Again  shall  cattle  crowd  the  plain — 
Her  fields  be  rich  with  golden  grain— 
Her  towns  with  busy  voices  ring, 
Her  swains  rejoice,  her  maidens  sing  ! 


AFRICA   FOR   CHRIST.  95 

See  in  yon  East  the  glowing  gleam  ! 

Faith  is  not  false  ;  nor  hope  a  dream  ! 

Messiah,  come  !     Rejoice  our  eyes  ; 

And  lo  !  in  yonder  Eastern  skies 

The  "Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  rise," 

And  on  its  healing  pinions  bear 

Love,  Peace,  and  Joy — for  all  the  world  to  share. 


V.  Africa  for  Christ.     By  Rev.  Dr.  Edmond. 

This  Society  is  called  upon  to  rejoice  in  a  certain  fact, 
which  fact  is  that  God  has  given  it  the  hardest  work  to 
do  ;  that  it  has  had  put  into  its  hands  tasks  the  most 
onerous  ;  that  it  has  been  sent  to  lift  up  the  most  degraded 
specimens  of  the  human  family.  Is  that  a  thing  to  be 
thankful  for  }  I  say  most  emphatically  it  is,  and  for  many 
reasons.  It  is  more  like  God's  own  work,  for  it  is  very 
hard  to  stoop  down  to  the  very  lowest.  It  is  His  prerog- 
ative to  "  lift  the  poor  from  the  dust,  and  the  needy  from 
the  dunghill,  and  to  set  them  with  princes."  It  is  His  to 
"give  power  to  the  faint  " — ay,  and  to  do  more  than  that, 
"  to  them  that  have  no  might  to  increase  strength."  And, 
therefore,  when  He  sets  His  Cliurch  to  this  kind  of  work. 
He  honours  them  by  asking  them  in  their  own  sphere  to 
be  fellow-workers  together  with  Him.  There  is  another 
reason  why  I  think  we  should  rejoice  when  we  get  this 
sort  of  work  in  the  field  of  missions.  We  find  a  note  of 
time  given  in  one  of  the  Psalms  that  does  somewhat,  I 
think,  enable  us  to  calculate  the  approach  of  times  and 
seasons  which  yet  the  Father  keeps  in  His  own  hand.  It 
is  said,  "  The  time  to  favour  Zion  has  come,  even  the  set 
time,"  and  the  proof  is  this,  that  "  Thy  servants  take 
pleasure  in  her  stones  and  favour  the  dust  thereof"  When 
her  absolute  condition  of  ruin  presses  on  the  Church's 
heart,  this  Psalm  seems  to  say  that  the  time  of  favour  is  at 
hand  ;  and  if  the  Christian  Churches,  by  such  work  being 
given  to  them  as  this  resolution  refers  to,  are  turning  their 
attention  to  the  lowest  position  of  the  human  race, 
favouring  the  very  dust  thereof,  then  may  we  not  hope 
that  the  time  to  favour  us  is  come — "  the  time  that  Thou 
hast  set "  ?     Then,   further,   in   connection   with   this  same 


96  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

thought,  see  how  God  honours  His  Church  by  giving  her 
the  opportunity  to  have  faith  in  Him,  and  in  His  truth,  not 
reckoning  it  effete  and  inept  in  these  days,  but  as  strong 
for  the  salvation  of  the  human  family  as  ever,  and  therefore 
we  may  apply  it  to-day  to  the  lowest  specimens  that  the 
world  can  furnish.  If  there  are  some  who  say,  *'  That  is 
well  enough  for  then,  but  we  have  outgrown  the  necessity ; 
we  have  outgrown  the  applicability  to  us  of  that  sort  of 
Gospel  " — I  cannot  concern  myself  much  about  any  vaunt 
of  that  kind,  while  I  remember  that  the  only  time  when 
we  read  that  our  Lord  was  glad  at  heart  it  is  said  that  He 
rejoiced  in  spirit,  and  said,  **  I  thank  Thee,  O  Father,  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earth,  because  Thou  hast  hid  these  things 
from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  Thy 
sight."  I  pass  on,  however,  to  the  illustration  of  the 
general  principle  which  is  in  the  resolution,  and  which 
interests  me — that  is,  the  application  of  the  principle  to 
Africa,  and  to  certain  missions  specified  in  connection 
with  that  continent.  No  thoughtful  person  in  these  days 
can  have  failed  to  notice  by  what  a  singular  concurrence 
of  forces  various  causes  have  conspired  to  rivet  the  atten- 
tion of  civilized  men  upon  this  same  continent  of  Africa. 
I  know  not  from  how  many  quarters  the  interest  has  been 
aroused  and  fed.  First  of  all  we  have  it  in  consequence 
of  the  ever  memorable  work  of  patient,  heroic  explorers, 
with  Prince  Livingstone  at  their  head,  and  shall  I  refer  to 
the  youngest  of  the  band,  one  who  has  been  lately  treading 
in  his  footsteps,  and  has  come  back  to  tell  us  what  he  has 
seen,  crossing  from  sea  to  sea  the  African  continent  ?  But 
I  will  not  dwell  on  that.  There  are  many  other  causes. 
There  are  political  causes  that  have  brought  Africa  much 
into  the  foreground.  You  have  had  war  on  the  east  and  war 
on  the  west.  Swift,  short  wars,  thrusting  like  rapiers  into 
the  side  of  the  continent  ;  and  if  we  may  regret  their  dire 
necessity,  we  may  yet,  at  least,  be  thankful  that  England 
has  been  enabled,  in  connection  with  those  two  wars  in 
Abyssinia  and  Ashantee,  to  show  that  when  she  has 
achieved  the  purpose  for  which  the  sword  was  drawn,  she 
can  put  it  again  into  the  scabbard,  and  go  home  with  her 
work  accomplished.  Then  we  have  had  the  slave  trade, 
and  slave  circulars  issued  and  withdrawn,  and  issued  again  ; 


AFRICA    FOR   CHRIST.  97 

then  the  purchase  of  the  Suez  Canal  ;  then  our  interference 
with  Egyptian  finance,  and  proposals  coming  from  this 
quarter  and  from  that,  that  we  had  better  take  the  whole 
thing  in  our  own  hands  and  end  it.  Now,  though  I  have  no 
sympathy  seriously  with  any  such  proposal,  I  cannot  but 
say  this — that  reading  an  account  of  the  condition  of  the 
oppressed  population  in  Egypt,  I  could  not  but  feel  that  it 
was  a  lawful  thing  under  God's  good  will  and  supreme  wis- 
dom, to  pray  for  the  overthrow  of  a  despotism  so  abomin- 
able. Then  we  have  had  grand  engineering  proposals,  and 
I  wish  them  God  speed.  There  is  one  that  seems  very  feas- 
ible that  of  joining  the  two  rivers,  the  Congo  and  the  Zam- 
besi, with  a  suitable  canal,  to  make  them,  like  the  Siamese 
twins,  joined  by  a  band  made  out  of  their  own  materials. 
Then  there  is  a  grander  proposal  than  that — a  proposal  to 
fertilise  the  great  desert  heart  of  Africa  northwards,  and 
turn  the  Sahara  into  a  new  African  Eden,  by  bringing  in 
the  superfluous  water  of  the  great  big  Atlantic  Ocean. 
Only,  if  they  do  that,  they  must  be  cautious,  according  to 
a  warning  that  some  one  has  sounded,  that  if  you  drown 
the  desert  so  that  it  can  no  longer  do  its  work  in  heating 
the  atmosphere,  and  sending  it  over  the  globe,  we  shall  be 
driven  out  of  these  islands,  and  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
will  have  to  be  given  up  to  the  habitation  and  gambols  of 
polar  bears.  But  then  last  and  best  comes  a  thought  of 
missionary  work,  and  this  Society,  as  has  been  noticed  in 
that  most  singularly  eloquent  report,  has  had  some  of  its 
finest  trophies  \\\  connection  with  African  evangelisation. 
I  need  say  nothing  in  illustration  of  that,  for  you  have  the 
best  illustration  on  the  right  hand  of  the  chairman.  But  I 
would  like  just  so  far  to  diverge  from  the  main  track  as  to 
tell  you  that  it  has  always  been  to  me  a  matter  for  pro- 
found thankfulness  that  the  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
to  which  I  belong,  began  her  foreign  missions  among  the 
negroes.  She  went  to  the  West  Indian  Islands,  and 
having  gathered  together  a  large  number  of  Christian 
congregations  there,  there  was  a  certain  holy  impatience 
on  the  part  of  the  missionaries  to  go  to  Africa  and  evan- 
gelise the  forefathers,  so  to  say,  of  the  slaves  in  the  West 
Indies — to  evangelise  the  territory  from  which  they  had 
been  stolen.  So  in  Calabar  we  have  established  a  mission, 
where  there  has  been  a  work  to   which   allusion   has  been 

H 


98  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

made.  It  has  checked  inhuman  practices  ;  it  has  abolished 
some  hideous  customs,  and  it  has  given  the  people,  by  the 
hand  of  two  of  our  own  missionaries,  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  one  of  the  most  important 
languages  of  the  Western  African  continent.  Thus  Africa 
is  coming  to  the  foreground.  Now,  it  pleases  me  some- 
times to  have  a  little  dream.  I  am  fond  of  little  fancies, 
and  if  you  do  not  approve  of  mine,  you  will,  perhaps, 
indulge  me  in  the  utterance  of  it.  I  cannot  help  feeling, 
sometimes,  that  in  a  rough  way  you  may  divide  the  con- 
tinents of  the  earth  among  the  faculties  and  powers  of  the 
human  soul.  There  is  vast  Asia,  teeming  Asia,  dreaming 
Asia,  splendid  Asia  ;  it  is  the  imagination  of  the  soul 
opening  a  way  out  into  limitless  expanses,  and  beautiful  to 
see.  And  then,  clear  as  her  own  cold  Northern  skies,  or 
frozen  Alpine  heights,  comes  Europe,  the  intellect  of  the 
soul,  thinking,  understanding,  beating  out  theories  for  the 
use  of  men.  Then,  if  you  will  put  together  the  two  great 
English-speaking  nations — though  they  be  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  great  ocean  ;  that  same  ocean  severs  them 
both  from  the  European  continent — strictly  speaking  they 
are  the  soul  in  its  grand  and  impulsive  enterprises  of 
activity.  And  as  for  Africa,  it  remains  to-  be  what  its  very 
shape  seems  to  suggest — the  heart  of  the  world,  the  heart 
of  humanity.  Well,  if  it  be  so,  and  God  is  about  to  make 
an  appeal  through  His  Church  especially  to  the  heart  of 
humanity — ah  !  what  blessed  results  may  we  not  yet  hope 
to  see  when  Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her  hands  to  God. 
and  from  that  basest  of  kingdoms — Egypt  by  name — 
God  shall  bring  forth  princes  of  His  own.  I  have  another 
thought  with  which  I  will  twine  that  and  then  conclude. 
I  think  no  one  can  look  at  the  present  state  of  missionary 
enterprise  and  be  satisfied  altogether  with  the  rate  of  its 
progress.  I  am  not  under-rating  it ;  it  would  be  a  very 
foolish  thing  to  estimate  results  by  arithmetical  statistics. 
There  are  certain  friths  on  this  island  of  ours — the  Solway 
is  one  of  them — which  for  a  time  will  appear  as  if  the 
tide  were  making  no  progress,  and  then  when  it  has 
come  just  to  a  certain  point,  not  the  horseman  spurring 
his  noble  animal  to  the  gallop  can  keep  out  of  the  way 
of  the  advancing  tide.  So  it  may  be  in  moral  and  spiritual 
things  too,    but  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  there  is  some- 


AFRICA    FOR   CHRIST.  99 

thing  waiting  that  we  can  hardly  gauge  by  our  past 
experiences  or  hardly  conceive  of.  I  read  in  the  15th 
chapter  of  Luke  three  parables,  in  which  there  is,  in  fact, 
a  trinity — a  three  in  oneness.  I  do  not  doubt  at  all  that 
the  Trinity  of  the  blessed  God  is  there  indicated  ;  that 
the  Shepherd  dispensation  was  that  of  Jesus  closing  with 
Calvary,  that  the  Spirit's  dispensation  is  in  the  second 
parable,  and  then  _  in  the  other  parable  there  is  a  kind 
of  distinction  from  the  other  two.  There  is  no  sending 
into,  there  is  drawing  only  ;  but  oh,  what  potent  drawing. 
The  prodigal,  far  away  in  his  destitution,  feels  the  in- 
fluence of  his  father's  memory  and  his  father's  prayers, 
and  he  says,  "  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father."  I  read 
the  old  prophets,  and  I  see  a  time  certainly  coming  when 
crowds  shall  flow  to  Zion  such  as  were  never  seen  before, 
when  the  mountain  of  the  Lord  shall  be  established  in 
the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  all  the  nations  shall  flow 
to  it ;  when  the  aggressive  which  we  are  now  prosecuting 
will  give  place  to  the  attractive.  How  is  it  to  be  brought 
about  ?  He  only  can  tell  who  knows  the  times  and  the 
seasons.  It  will  need  no  new  Saviour,  that  is  settled  ;  it 
will  need  no  new  Spirit,  that  is  quite  clear  ;  but  it  may  be 
that  for  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,  there  is  to  be  some 
action  yet  upon  the  heart  of  all  humanity  which  will 
glorify  the  Son  and  glorify  the  Spirit,  and  bring  out  the 
everlastingly  glorious  character  of  Him  in  whose  bosom 
was  the  fountain  of  human  salvation.  If  so,  then  will  that 
beautiful  parable  come  to  have  its  fulfilment,  and  that 
weary,  woe-stricken,  wretched  thing,  the  human  heart,  will 
begin  to  know  its  own  emptiness  everywhere,  and  be  ready 
to  respond  to  the  gentlest  invitation  ;  when  the  whispers 
of  that  great  old  message,  breathed  into  the  ear  will  win 
the  response  of  the  yielding  heart,  and  the  nations,  moved 
on  and  stirred  as  humanity  was  never  moved  on  and 
stirred  before,  shall  rise  with  one  consent  and  say,  "  I  will 
arise  and  go  to  my  Father."  Our  duty,  meanwhile,  is 
aggressive,  and  the  more  we  make  it  so,  the  sooner  will 
c6me  the  attraction,  and  the  easier  will  be  our  work  in  the 
end  the  more  heartily  we  keep  at  it  now.  **  God  so  loved 
the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."     Sir,  in  the  text  of  gold,  that  text  of  texts, 


loo  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

that  amidst  a  thousand  other  brilliant  texts  seems  to  shine 
like  the  sun  amongst  the  stars,  we  have  the  prototype 
model  of  our  missions.  God  sent  His  only  begotten  Son. 
Mark  the  scale  of  the  giving,  and  mark  the  spirit  of  it. 
It  was  love  that  counted  even  this  cost  not  too  dear.  Look 
at  the  text  again,  and  behold  you  have  the  model  of  our 
missions.  What  have  you  to  do  for  Him  who  so  loved 
you  that  He  sent  His  Son  to  save  you  }  "  Freely  ye 
have  received,  freely  give."  There  is  nothing  more  aston- 
ishing when  one  reflects  on  it  than  our  slowness  and 
unreadiness  to  go  anywhere,  everywhere,  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  our  perishing  fellow-men.  To  repeat  the 
text  once  more — lo,  you  have  not  only  now  the  model 
and  the  motive,  but  you  have  the  very  message  of 
missions  to  your  hand.  Let  a  man  but  understand  the 
text,  and  make  his  brethren  understand  it,  and  he  will  gain 
them  soul  by  soul.  Christ  is  the  key  to  all  human  hearts 
— God's  love  to  men,  God's  love  to  sinners,  God's  love,  of 
such  tenderness  that  He  gave  up  the  very  best  He  had, 
His  own  well-beloved  Son,  that  whomsoever  believes  on 
Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  Whisper 
it  if  you  will,  in  dying  ears.  Blow,  trumpet,  and  thunder 
it  upon  the  storms  till  it  surrounds  the  earth,  and  let  the 
whole  earth  be  filled  with  His  glory.     Amen  and  amen. 


VI.  Conversion  of  the  World.     ByD-^.  M.  Punshon. 

"  My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  doth 
rejoice  in  God  my  Saviour!"  "What  shall  I  render  unto 
the  Lord  for  all  His  benefits  towards  me  ?"  There  is  a 
constraint  upon  me,  to  make  my  first  appearance  in  this 
hall  to-day  the  expression  of  the  gratitude  I  feel  that  I  am 
again  permitted  in  my  own  land  to  join  in  the  holy 
solemnities  of  the  missionary  anniversary.  It  is  seven 
years  since  I  had  this  privilege.  I  feel  as  if  I  ought  to  be 
a  more  effective  advocate  of  the  missionary  cause  than 
ever,  for  he  would  surely  be  a  prejudiced  fool  who  has  not 
learnt  some  lessons  by  90,000  miles  of  travel,  and  by  five 
years'  residence  on  missionary  ground.  I  used  to  think 
that   I   valued  this  Gospel   work,  and  that  I   believed,  as 


CONVERSION  OF  THE    WORLD.  loi 

earnestly  as  I  could  believe,  in  its  wondrous  adaptation  to 
all  classes  of  character  and  to  all  conditions  of  men.  But 
highly  as  I  valued  the  Gospel  before,  I  estimate  its  worth 
very  much  more  highly  to-day.  I  have  seen  it  exerting 
its  influence  over  the  vast  continent  of  America,  from  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia  on  the  borders  of  British  Columbia  in  the 
north,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  south  ;  from  Staten 
Island  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  to  where  the  Golden 
Gate  opens  to  the  wealth  of  the  Pacific.  I  have  seen  it 
leavening  the  young  Dominion  of  Canada  so  thoroughly 
that  it  has  made  it  start  upon  its  existence  as  a  common- 
wealth with  fairer  moral  auspices  than  any  State  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  I  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  happy 
negroes  and  Chippewas  reclaimed  from  error  not  the  ex- 
perience merely,  but  the  proclamation  as  heralds  of  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  I  have  watched  while  a  tribe  of 
Iroquois  Indians  have  passed  through  the  process  of  re- 
nouncing Paganism  for  Popery,  and  finding  that  too  near 
akin  to  their  former  religion,  have  supplicated — 400  of 
them — for  a  purer  teaching,  and  have  come  under  the 
influence  of  our  own  Missionary  Society  and  amidst  a 
harassing  persecution  have  remained  steadfast  to  the  faith 
they  have  espoused.  I  have  seen  Chinamen  aroused  from 
their  apathy  of  ages,  having  found  the  pearl  of  great  price 
in  a  land  where  they  went  blindly  only  to  seek  for  gold. 
I  have  seen  Japanese  princes — shrewd,  educated  men,  of  a 
nation  proverbially  incredulous,  and  in  a  former  time  in- 
veterate in  its  opposition  to  the  truth — bow  their  rank  and 
their  intellect  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  ready,  if  needs  be, 
to  become  confessors  of  His  name.  I  cannot  doubt,  there- 
fore, the  universal  adaptation  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  ;  and 
although  in  my  early  life  accustomed,  perhaps  with  too 
much  boldness,  to  speak  of  its  triumphs — now  that  I  know 
how  it  can  lift  the  lowest  character,  how  it  can  place  and 
chasten  and  subdue  the  highest  culture — now  that  I  have 
seen  it  as  the  pioneer  of  civilisation,  the  conservor  of 
morals,  the  destroyer  of  all  evil  and  pestilent  things,  the 
true  foundation  of  states,  the  individual  salvation  and 
happiness  of  men — I  rejoice  to  state  it  as  the  firm  con- 
viction of  my  mature  manhood,  that  we  have  not  followed 
a  cunningly-devised  fable — that  we  may  say  of  it  as  David 
said  of  the  sword  of  Goliath,  "There  is  none  like  that,"  and 


I02  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

that  we   are  not  deceived   when  we  beheve  with  all  the 
fervour  of  honest  and   intelligent  conviction  that  this  old 
Gospel  of  ours   is  the  great  instrumentality  by  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  proposes  to  convert  the   world  to  Christ,    I 
congratulate  you   that   amidst  all   these  things,   with  the 
fluctuations  of  that  public  opinion  which  is  changeful  ever, 
there  is  still  a  sound,  healthy,  confiding,  increasing  attach- 
ment to  the  cause  in  the  hearts  of  those  to  whom  we  have 
to  look   for  succour  and  for  help.     Sir,  I  believe  in  the 
Word  of  God.     I  would  fain  have  as  my  experience,  what 
was  finely  said  by  a  great  American   preacher,   that  "  he 
was  anchored  to  the  Bible,  and  the  anchor  never  dragged." 
We  have  a  sure  word  of  prophecy,  to  which  we  do  well  to 
take  heed.     Now  I  ask.  What  is  the  uniform  doctrine,  so 
to  speak,  of  prophecy  .?      Do  not  the  radiance,  the  fulness, 
the  power  of  the  whole  of  prophecy  centre  in  this  one  idea, 
the  reign  of  God   over  the  world  ?     When  the  seers  saw, 
was  not  this  foremost  in   their  vision .?     When   the  bard 
sang,  had  he  any  other    minstrelsy    than    this  .?      When 
patriarchs   dreamed,   was  not  their  dream  of    an   empire 
springing  out  from  their  loins  which  should  be  diffusive  in 
its  blessing,  and  which  should  extend  into  the  very  ends 
of  the  earth  ?     The  ultimate  theme  of  the   prophets,  what 
was   it  but  the  kingdom  of  God  }     Nebuchadnezzar,  who 
may  be  taken  as  a  symbol  of  the  royalties  of  earth,  saw 
something  in  the  visions  of  the  night  which  troubled  him. 
Daniel,  interpreting  Daniel,  who  was  beloved  of  the  Lord, 
felt  no  trouble  whatever.     What  was  it  ^     "  In  those  days 
and  in  that  time  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom 
which  shall  never  be  destroyed."      And  the  last  record  of 
the  Old  Book  tells  us  that  the  scheme  of  heaven  is  accom- 
plished when  it  is  said  :  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  have 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  and 
He  shall  reign  for  ever";  and  then,  and  not  until  then,  and 
not  a  moment  after  then,  will  the  voice  from   the  throne 
declare,  "  It  is  done."     Now,  that  is  the  uniform   doctrine 
of  ancient  prophecy.      Well,  come   out  of  the   Old   Testa- 
ment into  the  New.     You  are  introduced   to  Christianity. 
What  is  it  ?     What  is  the  first  announcement  of  it  .^     It  is 
the  kingdom  of  God,   which  is  righteousness,   and   peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.     If  that  be  so,  there  is  nothing 
beyond  it.     It  is  not  a  means  to  an  end,  it  is  the  end  itself. 


CONVERSION  OF  THE    WORLD.  103 

The  dominion  of  God  the  Father,  through  the  Son,  by  the 
Spirit,  until  God  is  all  in  all.  Prophecy  in  the  olden  time 
said,  "  I  will  set  my  King  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion." 
Christ  taking  to  Himself  without  ostentation  this  royalty, 
prays  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  :  "Now  Father,  glorify  Thy 
Son,  that  Thy  Son  also  may  glorify  Thee,  for  Thou  hast 
given  Him  power," — that  is,  dominion,  government — 
"  over  all  flesh."  John,  in  the  rapt  vision  of  Him,  says, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Apocalypse,  "  He  is  the  true  and 
faithful  witness,  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  ;" 
and  the  universal  worship-song,  in  which  all  the  convergent 
strains  of  praise  terminate,  what  is  it  .-*  "  All  the  creatures 
that  were  in  heaven  above,  and  on  the  earth  beneath,  and 
in  the  sea  under  the  earth,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard 
I  saying.  Blessing  and  honour  and  power  and  might  be 
unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb 
for  ever."  If  this  thought  be  a  true  thought,  and  if  the 
establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  be  the  ultimate  pur- 
pose of  God,  and  if  Christianity  perfectly  embodied  is  that 
kingdom,  then,  as  sure  as  God  is  God,  and  as  sure  as  truth 
is  truth,  we  must  succeed.  True,  we  see  not  yet  all  things 
put  under  Him.  Crime  flourishes,  honesty  starves,  kings 
are  scornful,  nations  are  rebellious,  truth  languishes,  error 
is  crowned,  sinners  transgress  with  a  high  hand  under  the 
unheedful  heaven,  men  trample  upon  every  Divine  restraint 
and  upon  every  Divine  charity,  and  yet  the  Lord  reigneth, 
over-ruling  all  things,  guiding  all  things  steadily  and 
majestically  to  one  ultimate  end — the  crisis  and  the 
jubilee  of  the  world.  I  confess,  sir,  I  like  to  dwell  on  this 
thought  ;  it  gives  me  the  most  exalted  idea  of  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  With  a  living  Christ  realized  and  a 
Church  that  depends  upon  Him,  there  is  sufficient  to 
hearten  us  into  confidence  and  to  cause  us  to  put  away 
our  fears.  He  lives,  and  He  must  reign  until  He  has  put 
all  enemies  under  His  feet.  Sir,  I  cling  to  this  thought  of 
the  Kingship  of  Christ ;  and  I  have  need  to  do  it  in  order 
to  preserve  me  from  the  despondency  to  which  some  of 
the  tendencies  of  the  age  would  otherwise  sink  me.  Christ 
lives  !  But  I  am  not  so  sure  that  lue  are  as  vigorous  in 
our  life  as  w^e  ought  to  be.  I  said  just  now  that  everything 
was  encouraging  that  you  looked  upon  abroad,  but  I  am 
not  so  certain  that  I  could  have  said  the  same  at  home. 


I04  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

In  the  presence  of  subtle  and  encroaching  foes,  are  we  con- 
tending earnestly  for  the  faith  which  was  once  delivered  to 
the  saints  ?  You  are  evangelising  the  world — that  is  your 
aim,  your  effort — you,  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society. 
In  the  course  of  the  last  seven  years  you  who  are  mission- 
ing the  world  have  added  i6o  missionaries  to  your  stations. 
Popery  is  missioning  England,  and  in  the  same  time  has 
added  200  additional  priests  in  this  little  island  of  ours 
alone.  Is  there  not  In  the  midst  of  us  the  influence  of 
that  remarkable  family  that  is  mentioned  in  the  Book  of 
Numbers,  chap.  xxvi.  44.  Now  I  have  puzzled  you,  I  dare 
say,  but  if  you  look  you  will  find  it  is  the  family  of  the 
Jesuites.  You  can  verify  the  quotation  if  you  like  when 
you  get  home.  The  spirit  of  encroachment  is  the  same, 
and  it  is  endeavouring  to  regain  its  ascendancy  ;  the  super- 
stition is  working  in  our  midst  Ay,  and  already  the 
flush  is  on  the  cheek  and  the  vaunt  upon  the  lip  in  con- 
sequence of  victory  certain  and  near.  And  what  are  we 
doing  ?  What  are  the  Churches  of  the  land  doing  ?  Some 
contemptuously  indiflerent,  and  disposed  to  regard  us  as 
timid  alarmists  if  we  raise  the  cry  of  warning.  Some 
too  intent  upon  other  things  to  regard  the  matter  for  a 
moment ;  and  one,  the  largest  and  the  wealthiest,  harbour- 
ing many  of  the  aliens  within  her  fold.  Once  and  again 
England  has  been  saved  by  her  Christianity,  and  I  hope 
it  will  be  so  once  more.  Unpeered  yet  amongst  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  with  all  its  faults,  is  this  little  island  of  ours. 
Her  balanced  power,  her  freedom  without  licence,  her 
government  without  tyranny,  her  rare  jurisprudence,  her 
practical  philanthropy,  and  that  benevolent  Gospel  which 
is  at  the  core  of  all  her  creeds — when  were  they  born  ?  It 
is  very  easy  for  those  who  have  studied  history  to  fix  the 
date  of  her  birth.  England  had  no  natural  advantages 
over  any  other  nation  of  Europe.  Her  soil  is  not  any 
more  fertile — her  climate  is  infinitely  more  dismal — the 
sun  which  is  poetically  said  never  to  set  upon  her  posses- 
sions, unfortunately  very  seldom  condescends  to  shine 
upon  herself.  Why  is  it,  I  say,  that  with  no  native  ad- 
vantages over  other  nations  she  has  outstripped  them  all  ? 
Ignorance,  superstition,  and  barbarism,  how  is  it  that  she 
has  successfully  shaken  them  off  from  her  as  Paul  shook 
the  viper  in  the  fire  ?     How  comes  it  that  when  the  map 


CONVERSION  OF   THE   WORLD.  105 

was  in  the  process  of  reconstruction,  when  thrones  trembled 
and  when  kings  fled,  when  all  that  was  venerable  and  all 
that  was  novel  changed  places  as  in  the  glass  of  the 
kaleidoscope — how  comes  it  that  England  never  wavered  ; 
and  that  when  the  revolutionary  deluge  submerged  so 
many  places,  she  never  knew  of  it  except  only  by  the 
spent  spray  which  dashed  in  harmless  anger  on  her  shore  ? 
Why,  because  while  France,  unhappy  France,  was  drifting 
into  infidelity,  England  stayed  herself  sublimely  on  her 
faith  and  in  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  she  found  her  safety  and  her  strength.  I  have  been 
thinking  of  the  last  meeting  I  attended  in  this  place,  and 
of  the  valiant  warders  who  were  present  at  it,  but  since 
then  have  been  struck  silent  upon  our  hill  of  Zion.  Thomas 
Jackson,  and  John  Scott,  and  William  Shaw  were  upon 
this  platform  ;  Dr.  Hoole  read  the  report ;  Robert  Spence 
Hardy  gave  his  first  and  his  last  address  in  Exeter  Hall  ; 
and  the  meeting  was  subdued  and  warmed,  as  meetings 
were  wont  to  be,  by  the  godly  fervour  of  Peter  M'Owan. 
Then,  as  the  thought  came  upon  me,  I  did  not  confine 
myself  within  the  limits  of  that  meeting,  but  I  seemed  to 
be  wandering  in  the  Campo  Santo  of  our  Church,  and  to 
gaze  into  the  graves  of  others — wise  in  council,  brave  in 
self-sacrifice,  eloquent  in  testimony,  who  since  that  time 
have  gone  to  their  reward.  Here  is  a  knot  of  bony  dust, 
where  missionaries  of  Christ  are  lying,  and  Male,  and  Field, 
and  Lord,  and  Burt,  and  Gostick,  and  Toyne,  and  Squance 
await  the  adoption  there.  There  are  the  tablets  of  some 
whose  voices  have  often  been  heard  in  this  hall  in  advocacy 
of  the  missionary  cause,  and  there  rose  up  before  me  the 
forms  of  James  Dixon  and  John  Hannah,  and  George 
Brown  Macdonald,  and  Thomas  Vasey,  and  Alexander 
James.  Here  Wales  is  weeping  over  the  eloquent  Aubrey. 
There  Ireland  over  the  astute  and  trenchant  Father  Maca- 
fee,  and  Father  Waugh,  full  of  honours  and  of  years  ; 
Sweden,  for  the  far  north,  keeps  the  memory  of  George 
Scott  very  fragrant ;  and  France  lets  its  iininortelUs  fall 
lovingly  upon  the  turf  at  Nismes  beneath  which  the  clay 
of  Emile  Cook  is  resting  until  the  resurrection  morn. 
There  is  something  solemnising  in  losses  like  these.  Only 
seven  years'  record  !  and  I  could  mention  numbers  of 
names  hardly  less  illustrious.     The  first  thought  was,  of 


io6  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

necessity,  "they  are  gone  hence  ;"  but  the  second  thought 
came  speedily  to  chide  it — "they  are  gone  home'': — 

"  We  sadly  watched  the  close  of  all 

Life  balanced  on  a  breath, 
We  saw  upon  their  features  fall 

The  awful  shade  of  death  ; 
All  dark  and  desolate  we  were, 

And  Nature,  murmuring,  cried — 
'  Ah,  Lord  !  if  Thou  hadst  but  been  here, 

Our  brethren  had  not  died.' 

"  But  when  its  glance  the  memory  cast 

On  all  that  grace  had  done. 
And  thought  of  life-long  warfare  past, 

And  endless  victories  won. 
Then  Faith,  prevailing,  wiped  the  tear, 

And  looking  upward,  cried — 
'Ah,  Lord  !  Thou  surely  hast  been  here. 

Our  brethren  have  not  died.'" 

But  these  departures  that  we  mourn  are  to  us  not  a  sorrow 
only,  but  an  inspiration.  They  were  borne  to  the  grave 
as  brave  men  bear  a  comrade-warrior  who  has  fallen  in 
the  honourable  field,  each  one  girding  himself  in  the 
moment  of  his  deepest  sadness  for  other  battles  in  the 
same  holy  war.  And  there  are  multitudes  in  this  hall 
to-day,  some  just  proving  their  armour,  some  bearing  the 
scars  of  battle,  who  are  prepared,  beside  the  ashes  of  their 
fathers  and  their  brethren,  to  renew  their  fealty  to  the 
cause  of  Christian  missions,  jealous  with  a  holy  jealousy 
lest  our  burial-ground  should  become  richer  than  our 
Church.  Oh,  the  sole  remedy  for  all  our  woes,  for  all  our 
apprehensions,  for  all  our  sorrow,  is  just  to  come  closer  to 
Christ — closer  to  Christ  in  personal  experience,  closer  to 
Christ  in  daily  communion,  closer  to  Christ  in  perpetual 
reliance,  closer  to  Christ  in  importunate  prayer,  closer  to 
Christ  in  honest  and  hearty  work !  When  good  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, of  Princeton,  in  New  Jersey,  lay  a-dying,  some  one 
came  to  him,  and  quoted  a  passage  for  his  comfort  as  he 
lay  half  unconscious — "  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed  ! " 
A  fire  lit  up  his  glazing  eye,  and  the  old  Christian  warrior 
roused  himself  as  if  for  an  utterance  of  latest  testimony, 
and  he  said  to  his  startled  listeners — "No  ;  I  cannot  allow 
even  a  preposition  between  me  and  my  Saviour  ;  *  I  know 


WHAT  THE    GOSPEL  HAS  DONE  IN  AFRICA.    107 

whom  I  have  believed!'"  Let  us  get  up  to  that  level; 
let  the  great  baptized  heart  of  the  Church  get  up  to  that 
level  of  intimate,  close,  faithful  union  with  Christ,  and  we 
and  our  cause  are  safe  !  No  fear  of  the  confessional  then. 
Assuredly  those  who  will  not  bear  an  intervening  pre- 
position will  never  brook  an  interfering  priest.  No  fear 
of  overweening  sorrow  then,  for  we  shall  remember  that 
although  God  buries  His  workmen,  He  carries  on  His 
work.  No  fear  of  relaxed  efforts  then,  for  idleness  will 
be  seen  in  its  hatefulness  as  a  sin  against  boundless  love. 
No  fear  of  straitened  means,  and  empty  exchequers,  and 
niggard  doles,  and  small-hearted  liberalities  then,  for  the 
frost  of  every  heart  must  melt  that  is  so  near  the  Saviour, 
and  men,  putting  away  the  large  greeds  and  little  givings 
of  their  childish  days,  will,  like  Araunah,  "  as  a  king  give 
unto  the  king :"  pouring  out  their  treasures  as  brave 
warriors  their  blood,  and  giving,  or  striving  to  give,  in 
some  far-off  and  reverent  manner,  after  the  measure  of 
Him  who,  that  we  and  the  world  might  live,  spared  not 
His  only  begotten  Son. 


VII.     What    the     Gospel    has    done    in   Africa. 

By  Rev.  Dr.  Moffat. 

My  dear  friends,  the  object  for  which  we  are  met  is 
certainly  one  of  the  grandest  that  can  occupy  the  mind 
of  man.  The  greatest  men  that  ever  trod  the  earth's 
surface  have  been  engaged  in  it  ;  the  greatest  minds  have 
been  exercised  in  it  ;  and  we  have  only  to  look  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  when  He- suffered  and  died,  and  became 
the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  listen  to  His 
commission,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature,"  to  be  impressed  in  our  inmost 
hearts  with  the  greatness,  the  grandeur,  and  the  glory  of 
missionary  enterprise.  You  know  I  have  had  a  long  ex- 
perience ;  and  I  wish  that  wonderful  machine  was  here  to 
grind  me  young  again,  that  I  might  sally  forth  once  more 
to  the  missionary  field.  It  is  fifty-eight  years  since  I  laid 
myself  on  the  missionary  altar,  and  during  all  that  period 
my  mind  has  been  undivided  in  its  devotion  to  the  work. 
I    have  had    many  opportunities   of  witnessing  what  the 


io8  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

gospel  can  do — that  it  is  indeed  the  power  of  God  to  the 
salvation  of  man,  no  matter  how  ignorant,  or  degraded, 
or  brutal  they  are.  When  we  remember  the  obligations 
under  which  we  are  laid,  when  we  think  of  the  perishing 
millions  who  are  dying  day  by  day,  and  when  we  think  of 
the  advantages  which  we  possess,  living  in  the  light  of 
heaven  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  that  can  make  us  and 
others  happy,  we  need  to  examine  ourselves.  The  claims 
upon  us  are  very  great.  We  know  that  the  Bible  is  the 
Book  of  God  ;  we  believe  that  the  publication  of  the 
gospel  is  the  only  remedy  for  this  sin-stricken  world  ;  and 
we  have  innumerable  testimonies  to  prove  to  us  that  the 
work  of  missions  is  the  work  of  God.  It  is  a  solemn 
thought  that  God  in  His  great  mercy  has  provided  a 
salvation  for  a  sinful,  rebel  world,  and  that  the  eternal 
Jehovah  who  holds  the  reins  of  universal  empire  looks 
down  on  all  of  us  who  bear  the  Christian  name,  and 
desires  that  we  should  carry  the  news  of  that  salvation 
throughout  the  world.  Oh,  if  every  one  bearing  the 
Christian  name  did  his  duty  as  in  the  presence  of  God, 
as  in  the  certain  prospect  of  appearing  before  God,  what 
a  change  would  be  produced  !  What  an  abundance  of 
labourers  we  should  find  !  What  numbers  would  run  to 
and  fro  that  knowledge  might  be  increased  !  What  are  all 
the  sacrifices  that  we  can  make  ?  I  have  had  something 
to  do  with  sacrifices  and  hardships  ;  I  have  been  exposed 
to  savage  men  and  beasts  of  prey  ;  but  what  are  all  these 
trifles  compared  with  the  great  object  of  saving  souls  ?  I 
am  ashamed  to  use  the  word  sacrifice,  for  what  are  all  the 
sacrifices  we  can  make  when  we  think  of  the  great  sacrifice 
made  for  the  sins  of  the  world  }  But  be  it  remembered 
that  whatever  we  do,  be  it  much  or  little,  in  this  great 
work,  whatever  our  self-denial,  our  prayers,  our  collections, 
our  subscriptions,  they  are  all  chronicled  in  heaven,  never 
to  be  forgotten.  There  is  a  day  coming  when  the  great 
Judge  of  the  earth  shall  say  before  an  assembled  world  to 
each  one  who  has  laboured  for  Him,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  these,  ye  did  it  unto  Me."  Let  me  refer  for  a 
moment  to  what  the  gospel  has  done  in  Africa.  It  was 
my  lot  to  be  appointed  to  a  mission  in  the  interior  of 
Southern  Africa,  among  the  Bechuana  nation.  Now,  in 
other   parts  of  the   world   there  are,   as  we    know,  "gods 


WHAT  THE   GOSPEL   HAS  DONE  IN  AFRICA.    109 

many  and  lords  many" — idols  innumerable — but  among 
the  Bechuanas  we  could  not  find  the  shadow  of  an  idol  ; 
they  had  no  kind  of  worship  whatever  ;  there  was  no  altar, 
no  priest,  nothing  of  the  kind  existing  among  them.  They 
are  an  intelligent,  manly  race,  but  the  thought  of  an 
invisible  being  governing  the  destinies  of  this  world  never 
entered  into  their  minds.  The  question  has  been  some- 
times asked  whether  it  is  easier  to  convert  idolaters  or 
those  who  have  no  religion  at  all.  In  the  case  of  an 
idolater  the  work  of  the  missionary  is  to  direct  the  mind 
from  one  object  of  reverence  to  another  ;  but  in  the  other 
case  you  have  a  rock  of  adamant  to  deal  with.  But  nothing 
is  too  hard  for  the  grace  of  God.  Some  people  in  this 
country  have  thought  that  fruit  ought  to  be  seen  after 
the  labour  of  a  year  or  two.  I  have  even  heard  of 
some  who  have  given  up  subscribing  because  there  was  no 
success  attending  such  and  such  missions.  We  have  only 
to  look  at  the  history  of  missions  to  see  how  long  in  many 
parts  of  the  world  the  faith  of  the  servants  of  Christ  has 
been  tried.  Look  at  the  South  Sea  Islands.  For  sixteen 
years  we  witnessed  the  sufferings  and  trials  of  the  mission- 
aries who  went  there.  Look  now  at  the  harvest !  To  such 
an  extent  has  Christianity  spread  that  not  long  since  a 
missionary  told  me  that  wishing  to  bring  home  an  idol  or 
two  from  one  of  the  islands,  he  could  not  find  one  in  the 
whole  island.  It  had  been  said  that  commerce  must  pre- 
cede evangelisation.  It  has  been  altogether  different  in 
my  experience  of  Christian  missions.  Not  an  individual 
dared  to  set  a  foot  on  those  islands  before  the  missionaries 
went  there  ;  attempts  were  made,  but  the  people  were 
eaten  up  by  the  savages  ;  it  was  not  until  the  missionaries 
went  and  laboured  among  them  that  the  natives  became 
Christianized.  It  has  been  the  same  in  the  interior  of 
Africa.  When  I  went  among  the  Bechuanas  I  had  a 
difficult  work  to  acquire  the  language  without  the  help  of 
grammar  or  dictionary.  I  had  to  pick  up  the  words  as  I 
best  could.  Sometimes  the  people  were  puzzled  as  to  the 
object  I  had  in  view  in  collecting  the  words  of  their 
language  as  I  did.  Whenever  I  heard  a  new  word  I 
ascertained  its  meaning,  and  wrote  it  down.  On  one 
occasion,  when  my  fellow-labourer  Hamilton  and  I  were 
sawing   wood,  a  young  man  asked  me   to   write  down  a 


no  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

sentence  that  contained  a  word  that  was  strange  to  me, 
and  I  asked  him  its  meaning.  He  then  told  me  to  ask  an 
old  woman  who  was  sitting  near,  who  had  often  helped  me 
out  of  similar  difficulties.  She  could  speak  a  little  Dutch, 
and  I  was  familiar  with  that  language.  I  repeated  the 
sentence,  and  the  woman  blushed.  I  knew  something  was 
wrong,  but  I  asked  again.  "  Well,"  said  she,  "  you  sky,  *  I 
want  to  kiss  you.'"  In  order  to  become  more  familiar  with 
the  language,  I  once  went  into  the  interior,  150  miles 
beyond  the  station,  in  order  not  to  hear  the  voice  of  my 
dear  partner  or  my  fellow-labourers  speaking  English. 
I  remained  there  a  considerable  time,  and  I  had  great 
difficulty  in  getting  the  natives  to  carry  letters  for  me  to 
Mrs.  Moffat.  They  were  afraid  the  letters  should  speak 
to  them.  More  than  once  a  man  has  said  to  me,  "  Let  me 
put  my  spear  through  the  letter,  and  then  it  will  not  speak 
to  me  on  the  road."  After  about  nine  years'  fruitless  labour 
among  these  people,  a  blessing  was  poured  out  from  on 
high.  They  were  first  arrested  by  my  preaching  to  them 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  which  gave  a  turn  to  their 
thoughts,  and  showed  them  a  dawn  of  heavenly  light. 
Now,  men  who  were  formerly  startled  at  a  bit  of  paper, 
who  had  no  idea  of  God  or  of  futurity,  are  reading  by 
thousands  the  Word  of  God  in  their  own  language.  Our 
missions  extend  1,500  or  1,600  miles  beyond  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  We  have  our  principal  stations  and  our 
out-stations  ;  and  there  are  native  preachers  who  are  able 
to  "  hold  forth  the  Word  of  Life.'*  I  have  seen  a  fierce 
warrior,  whose  hands  have  been  dyed  in  human  blood, 
give  out  a  hymn,  read  a  chapter,  offer  a  fervent  prayer, 
and  press  on  his  countrymen  the  necessity  of  repentance 
towards  God  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  I  have  seen  men 
of  different  tribes  who  formerly  hated  each  other  with 
deadly  hatred,  and  watched  for  each  other's  destruction, 
sitting  together  at  the  Lord's  table  wuth  tears  trickling 
down  their  cheeks.  Yes,  my  friends,  it  is  wonderful  what 
influence  the  gospel  has  had  on  the  walk  and  conversation 
of  believers  in  that  country.  Let  me  give  you  an  instance. 
I  knew  a  chief  who  ruled  over  many  thousands  of  men — 
a  man  of  great  influence.  He  had  witnessed  the  results 
produced  by  the  gospel  amongst  his  own  people.  He 
admired  the  gospel,  but  had  no  idea  himself  of  embracing 


WHAT  THE  GOSPEL  HAS  DONE  IN  AFRICA,    in 

it  On  one  occasion  he  heard  that  two  of  his  sons  had 
collected  a  number  of  warriors  at  a  distance  from  head- 
quarters, and  had  gone  forth  in  order  to  attack  a  town. 
Grieved  at  the  intelligence,  he  ordered  his  horse,  mounted 
it  with  spear  in  hand  and  a  tiger  skin  about  his  body,  and 
away  he  galloped,  taking  a  shorter  road  than  his  sons  took 
in  order  to  be  before  them  at  the  town  that  they  were  about 
to  pillage.  As  morning  dawned  he  arriv^ed  at  the  place,  and 
saw  his  two  sons  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  him.  He 
shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  They  were  petrified,  for 
they  knew  the  man.  He  galloped  up  to  his  eldest  son, 
sprang  from  his  horse,  put  his  spear  in  his  son's  hand,  drew 
aside  the  tiger  skin,  and  said,  "  Plunge  that  spear  into  my 
bosom ;  lay  me  on  the  ground,  and  walk  over  this  body  ; 
then  go  and  do  what  you  please,  but  not  till  then.  We 
are  now  enjoying  the  peace  that  these  men  from  a  distant 
land  have  brought  us.  We  have  buried  our  spear,  and 
shall  we  now  take  the  torch  and  set  fire  to  the  towns 
around  us  }  It  shall  not  be."  Were  I  to  detail  to  you  the 
missionary  successes  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  I  should  keep 
you  till  to-morrow  morning  ;  and  I  know  that  none  of  you 
have  brought  your  nightcaps.  The  Bechuana  tribes  were, 
from  time  immemorial,  engaged  in  war  with  each  other. 
No  tribe  dared  to  visit  another ;  but  now  they  constantly 
interchange  visits  for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  and  can 
go  to  any  part  of  the  interior  without  a  finger  being  laid 
upon  them.  The  missionary  was,  for  a  long  time,  considered 
the  pest  of  society.  Now  he  may  go  where  he  likes,  and 
all  the  tribes  receive  him  with  open  arms.  The  harvest 
is  great,  but  the  labourers  are  few.  When,  in  my  sleepless 
hours  at  night,  I  think  of  the  obligation  of  Christians  in 
this  country  to  their  Saviour,  and  when  I  think  of  how 
far  short  they  fall  of  what  they  ought  to  do,  I  tremble  and 
fear.  Were  an  angel  now  to  come  from  heaven  and  cry, 
"  In  a  month  or  in  a  week  time  will  be  no  longer,"  how 
earnest  would  every  one  be  !  Let  us  make  the  best  use 
of  the  time  God  has  given  us.  Let  us  feel  identified  with 
all  that  has  reference  to  the  Saviour's  glory  and  the  spread 
of  His  kingdom.  Let  us  not  only  sing,  "  Waft,  waft,  ye 
winds,  His  story!"  but  let  us  put  our  hands  in  our  pockets  ; 
let  our  prayers  ascend  earnestly  to  God,  and  we  have  His 
assurance  that  our  labour  will  not  be  in  vain. 


112         PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


VIII.      Missions    in    South    Africa.     By  Dr. 

Livingstone. 

I  HAVE  been  behind  the  scenes.  I  know  something  of 
the  missipnaries,  and  I  know  a  good  deal  about  the  con- 
verts. Some  people  do  not  call  me  a  missionary  now, 
but  I  do  not  care  what  they  think  of  me  if  they  will  only 
grant  that  I  am  an  honest  witness.  I  have  seen  the  con- 
verts and  the  missionaries  both  in  South  and  in  West 
Africa,  and  I  have  formed  a  totally  different  opinion  of 
them  from  that  which  has  been  recently  put  forth  to  the 
world.  I  believe  that  those  who  talk  about  either  the 
missionaries  or  the  converts  as  being  unworthy  know 
nothing  about  them.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  a  gentleman  in  South  Africa  who  has  had 
an  idea,  ever  since  seeing  the  working  of  the  mission  under 
Mr.  Moffat,  that  Mr.  Moffat  and  another  missionary  there 
are  the  only  missionaries  in  the  whole  world.  He  went 
into  a  certain  town,  and  was  surprised  to  see  no  one  there  ; 
but  when  he  got  to  the  centre  of  the  place  he  found  a  black 
man  preaching  to  all  the  inhabitants,  and  he  admits  now 
that  that  black  man  must  be  a  good  fellow.  That  black 
man  you  may  see  figured  in  a  picture  that  has  now  become 
pretty  common,  as  standing  by  a  missionary  when  he  was 
bitten  by  a  lion  ;  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  man  of  courage 
then,  and  he  has  shown  himself  ever  since  a  brave  and 
good  Christian  man.  Ever  since  then  my  friend  has  not 
known  how  to  show  me  sufficient  kindness,  simply  because 
he  saw  what  I  was  doing  ;  and  I  think  that  any  man  who 
has  seen  the  missionaries  at  work,  and  has  talked  with  the 
converts,  will  entertain  as  high  an  opinion  of  them  as  my 
friend.  In  my  opinion,  the  missionaries  on  the  West  Coast, 
and  likewise  in  South  Africa,  seeing  how  often  they  are  cut 
off  by  disease,  and  how  bravely  they  hold  on  to  their  work, 
only  want  an  air  of  antiquity  thrown  over  them  to  decide 
that  they  are  quite  equal  to  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  old. 
Ever  since  I  was  a  boy  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about 
the  advance  of  Mohammedanism  ;  and  in  my  own  pretty 
extensive  travels  I  have  always  been  looking  out  for  the 
advance  of  that  wave  of  Mohammedanism  which  I  was  led 
to  believe  would  soon  spread  over  the  continent  of  Africa. 
Now,  I  never  happened  to  meet  with  a  Mohammedan  till 


MISSIONS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA.  113 


two  years   ago,  when   I  met   two   Arabs  on  Lake  Nyassa, 
who  were  very  busy  slave-traders.     They  were  building  an 
Arab  vessel  to  transport  slaves  across  the  lake  towards  the 
east;  and  they  were  at  the  time  as  busy  as  they  could  possi- 
bly be  transporting  the  slaves  by  means  of  two  boats.    One 
of  their  men  understood  the  Makololo  language;  I  found 
him  to  be  very  intelligent,  and  we  could  converse  readily 
together.     I  was  rather  anxious  to  find  out  whether  he  had 
been  made  a  convert.     He  was  the  servant  of  these  Arabs, 
who  had  been  there  for  fourteen  years,  but  this  poor  fellow- 
knew  nothing  at  all  about  Mohammedanism  except  that  it 
was  wrong  to  eat  an  animal  if  its  throat  was  not  cut    Why, 
the  people  knew  as  much  of  our  religion  as  that  in  about 
three  weeks  after  our  arrival,  for  they  would  not  go  to  hoe 
their  garden  on  Sundays  because  they  were  afraid  that  if 
they  did  they  would  have  an  unlucky  crop.     All  the  Mo- 
hammedan proselytism  that  has  come  under  my  own  ob- 
servation, and  all  that  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  about 
their  converts,  is  simply  this,  that  occasionally  in  the  West 
and  North  of  Africa  they  make  forays  and  capture  num- 
bers of  people,  and  sometimes  conquer  large  portions  of 
territory.     In  doing  this  they  gratify  their  own  selfishness  ; 
they  get  slaves,  land,  and  other  plunder  ;  but  I  find  lately, 
on  making  some  inquiries,  that  the  native  Christians,  the 
men   whom  our  missionaries  have  converted  in  West  and 
South  Africa,  and  also  in  the  West  Indies,  contributed  up- 
wards of  ;^i  5,000  annually  for  the  support  and  spread  of 
their  faith.     In  the  one  case,  the  Mohammedans  gratify  their 
selfishness  ;  in  the  other,  the  native  Christians  make  large 
sacrifices   for  the  propagation   of  their  religion.     Now,    I 
think  that  the  religion  which  teaches  people  to  deny  them- 
selves and  to  make  sacrifices,  must  be  Divine,  and,  from  all 
that  I  can  ascertain,  the  only  religion  that  makes  proselytes 
is  the  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.    A  very  interestmg 
fact  came  to  my  knowledge  on  the  West  Coast.     I  was  in 
Sierra  Leone  in  1848,  and  a  few  years  previously  the  con- 
verts there  belonging  to  the  Church   Missionary   Society 
had  taken  upon  themselves  the  entire  cost  of  the  schools, 
and  had  relieved  the  Society  at  home  of  an  annual  cost  of 
^800.     I  do  not  think  so  much   of  the  converts   actually 
made  as  I  do  of  the  leavening  process  going  on  through  )Ut 
the  whole  country.     I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  observ- 

I 


114  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

ing  this  leavening  process.  Dr.  Tidman  referred  at  the 
beginning  of  the  report  to  the  mission  among  the  subjects 
of  Moselekatse.  Now,  Mr.  Moffat  had  been  at  the  station 
where  Moselekatse  hves  about  two  months  before  I  reached 
a  point  up  the  Zambesi  about  200  miles  distant ;  and  a 
man  came  to  me  one  evening  and  said  that  he  had  been  to 
that  mission,  and  that  the  English  had  come,  and  that  they 
had  told  Moselekatse  not  to  kill  any  more  people,  and  that 
he  had  agreed  not  to  do  so.  That  would  be  the  most 
prominent  feature  to  the  natives  in  Mr.  Moffat's  opening  of 
that  mission,  and  it  shows,  I  think,  that  the  leaven  spreads 
m^uch  further  than  the  missionaries  sometimes  imagine. 
When  the  slaves  are  at  the  public  whipping-post, — for  they 
have  institutions  of  that  kind, — they  often  call  out,  when 
undergoing  the  lash,  *'  Oh  for  the  English  !  when  will  the 
English  come  ?  " — making  their  masters,  of  course,  much 
more  angry  than  they  were  before ;  but  this  again  shows 
that  the  good  name  which  the  English  have,  through 
the  missionaries  and  through  the  efforts  of  our  Govern- 
ment, extends  a  very  long  way  inland.  Thus  the  leaven- 
ing process  is  going  on  ;  the  men  are  being  prepared  for 
much  greater  advances  in  Christianity  than  we  shall  ever 
see  in  our  day.  The  converts  that  I  have  seen  I  think  to 
be  an  honour  to  Christianity  ;  there  are  some — as  there 
is  a  good  sprinkling  among  ourselves — who  are  no  better 
than  they  should  be  ;  but  when  the  majority  of  them  are 
compared  with  the  heathen  around  them — and  it  is  not 
fair  to  compare  them  with  ourselves  at  home — I  think 
every  honest,  intelligent  witness  will  admit  that  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Christian  Churches  in  that  country  have  been 
a  great  success.  The  success  will  be  much  greater  in  time 
to  come  because  the  work  of  propagation  is  now  going  on 
in  every  country  where  we  have  missionaries  ;  and  in  the 
course  of  time,  though  not,  perhaps,  till  the  days  of  our 
children,  the  great  avalanche  of  Christianity  will  be  seen 
spreading  over  the  whole  world. 


IX.  Indian  Missions.     By  Sir  W.  Muir,  K.C.S.I. 

It  affords  me  the  highest  degree  of  satisfaction,  in  return- 
ing home  after  a  long  residence  in  India,  to  see  the  cause 


INDIAN  MISSIONS.  115 


of  missions  so  warmly  supported  in  a  great  meeting  like 
this,  and  I  am  sure  it  must  cheer  the  hearts  of  missionary 
labourers  to  perceive  that  so  great  an  interest  is  taken  by 
the  people  of  England  in  missionary  enterprises.     It  is  a 
source  of  gratification  to  me  to   follow  on   this   platform 
my  honoured  chief,  Lord  Northbrook,   and  I  may  add  my 
witness  to  what   has  been  said  by  him  that  in  his  private 
capacity  he  unflinchingly  supported   the  cause  of  Christi- 
anity in   India.     The  length  of  my  experience   in    India 
exceeds  that  of  his  lordship.     It  is  now  some  thirty  or  forty 
years  since  I  first  landed   in  India.     My  first  experience 
there  with  regard  to  mission  work  was  in  connection  with 
the   Society  for  the  Propagation   of  the  Gospel  ;  but,   as 
many  of  you  are  aware,   in  North   India  there  is   only  a 
small  station  belonging  to  that  Society,  and  my  experience 
for  some  time  lay  chiefly  among  the   missions  of  the  Pres- 
byterian and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  bodies  of  America. 
It    is    now   about  thirty-five  years    since   I   first  had    the 
pleasure  of  becoming  acquainted  with  any  of  the  agents  of 
this  Society.     The  first  missionary  that  I  knew  is  a  man 
whose  name  is  honoured  throughout  Protestant  Christen- 
dom—Dr.  Feinder.     It  may,  perhaps,  surprise  some  of  you 
to  hear  that  your  Society  was  indebted  for  him  and  some 
other  missionaries   to   Russia.     Forty  years  ago,  at  least, 
Russia    would    not    tolerate    Protestant    missionaries    m 
Georgia,  and  hence  she  expelled  them.     The  Russians  are 
very  fond   of  Christianity,  but  it  must  be  a  Christianity  of 
their  own  type.     The  missionaries  of  this  Society  whom  I 
have  met  with  in  India  have  all  been  men  of  ability  and 
devoted ness  to  their  work,  and  men  of  high  character,  and 
amongst  those  who  have  become  most  eminent  in  these 
respects  I  may  mention  Dr.  Feinder,  one  of  the  most  vener- 
able missionaries  at  Benares,  Mr.  Smith,  and  Mr.  Leipold. 
It  is  an  honour  for  any  Society  to  possess  agents  like  these. 
It  is  very  much   the   fashion  to  say  that  the  missions  m 
India  had  made  no  real  converts  ;  but  those  who  say  that 
cannot  have  inquired  into  the  facts  or  visited  the  mission 
stations   as   I  have  done.     I  have  visited   the  stations  at 
Agra,  Meerut,  Umballa,  Scindia,  Allahabad,  and  Benares, 
and  have  seen  a  great  many  of  the  converts  at  those  places. 
Let  me  tell  you,  by  way  of  example,  what  style  of  convert 
I  have  seen  at  Agra  and  Allahabad.     There  are  gathered 


Ii6  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

together  at  each  of  these  places  about  four  or  five  hundred 
natives  who  are  converts  from  heathenism  to  Christianity, 
and  if  I  am  asked  what  is  their  character,  I  reply  that  they 
would  compare  very  favourably  indeed  with  a  village  with 
the  same  population  in  this  country.  The  native  Christians 
there  are,  on  the  whole,  temperate,  moral,  and  respectable, 
and  I  believe  that  a  large  proportion  of  them  have  in  their 
hearts  the  essence  and  the  principles  of  true  Christianity. 
While  I  was  in  the  North-west  provinces  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  giving  a  grant  of  land  for  a  village  of  native  Christians, 
and  when  I  left  they  had  for  their  minister  David  Mohun, 
who  conducts  regular  services,  and  who  is  much  respected. 
I  know  another  native  Christian  who,  during  the  Mutiny 
in  1857,  when  a  young  European  officer  had  a  sword 
pointed  at  him  by  the  rebels,  encouraged  him  in  his 
distress,  he  himself  being  at  the  same  time  exposed  to  great 
peril  on  account  of  the  sympathy  which  he  manifested  for 
a  brother  Christian.  I  might  also  allude  to  Rumchunder 
of  Delhi,  who  wrote  a  very  interesting  work  on  the  Atone- 
ment, and  whose  abilities  obtained  for  him  the  post  of 
Education  Inspector  of  Putliana.  At  the  court  of  the 
king  of  that  part  of  India,  he  was  exposed  to  great  temp- 
tations, which  are  purposely  thrown  in  the  way  of  native 
Christians  at  native  courts  ;  but  God  enabled  him  to  pass 
through  them  all  unscathed,  like  Daniel  at  the  court  of 
Babylon.  When  I  last  saw  him  he  had  been  in  the  service 
of  a  native  rajah,  and  had  lost  his  post,  not  through  any 
misconduct,  but  because  his  Christian  principles  led  him  to 
urge  his  master  to  abandon  a  vice,  through  continuance  in 
which  he  ultimately  lost  his  life.  I  say  that  of  such  men 
any  Missionary  Society  might  well  be  proud,  and  that 
nothing  but  the  real  principles  of  Christianity  could  sustain 
the  mind  under  such  circumstances.  The  success  of  mis- 
sions is  as  yet  small  in  the  plains  of  India,  but  when  we 
think  of  the  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  conversion 
to  Christianity,  when  we  think  of  the  chains  which  bind 
Hindoos  and  Mohammedans  to  their  religion,  we  cannot 
feel  surprised.  The  position  of  matters  is  far  less  discour- 
aging in  the  Neilgherries,  where  caste  and  the  pride  of  race 
are  not  predominant.  In  visiting  the  country  of  the 
Santhals,  I  found  thousands  of  people  who  had  embraced 
Christianity.     There  I  saw  in  one  place  a  beautiful  church, 


PROGRESS.  ■  117 


with  a  congregation  of  from  800  to  1,000.  The  minister 
was  a  German  missionary,  and  although  the  mission  in  that 
part  of  India  had  not  been  in  existence  more  than  twelve 
or  thirteen  years,  there  were  7,000  converts,  2,000  commun- 
icants, and  about  the  same  number  of  children  attending 
the  schools.  The  children  in  those  schools  were  found  by 
my  daughter  playing  just  like  English  children,  being  in 
this  respect  very  unlike  ordinary  native  children.  I  see 
nothing  to  prevent  the  whole  of  the  Santhal  community 
from  coming  over  to  Christianity.  But  what  is  done  to 
bring  about  that  result  should  be  done  quickly,  because 
the  country  bordering  on  that  of  the  hill  tribes  is  occupied 
by  the  Hindoos,  who  are  gradually  creeping  up,  and  if  the 
Santhals  should  become  like  the  Hindoos,  the  difficulties 
connected  with  caste  will  render  mission  work  far  more 
difficult  than  it  is  at  present.  Lord  Northbrook,  after 
visiting  the  country  of  the  Santhals  and  the  Kols,  came 
back  with  a  most  glowing  idea  of  the  prospects  of  Christi- 
anity there  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  the  natives 
generally  were  converted,  they  would  form,  as  it  were,  the 
backbone  of  Bengal,  and  stand  us  in  good  stead  in  times 
of  danger.  I  earnestly  entreat  you,  therefore,  my  friends, 
to  send  forth  more  labourers  to  that  part  of  the  Mission 
field.  His  Grace  the  Archbishop  spoke  of  the  improve- 
ment which  has  recently  taken  place  in  Indian  society. 
That  improvement  is  not,  I  think,  due  solely  to  the  pre- 
sence of  an  increased  number  of  Christian  ladies,  but  in  a 
great  degree  also  to  the  improved  position  of  missions.  If 
we  forget  the  great  spiritual  weapon  with  which  God  has 
entrusted  us,  He  will  cast  us  off  in  disgrace  ;  but  I  pray 
that  that  spiritual  weapon  may  be  more  and  more  wielded 
by  this  Society,  and  with  greater  and  greater  success. 

X.     Progress,    ^y  Rev.  J.  A.  Macfadyen,  D.D. 

That  traditional  Welsh  brother,  who  is  said  to  have  made 
so  many  mistakes,  used  to  say  that  progress  was  of  three 
kinds.  There  was  progress  forw^ard,  and  there  w^as  pro- 
gress backward,  and  there  was  progress  standing  still. 
Well,  sometimes  there  is  progress  standing  still.  You 
have  seen  the  canal-boat.  It  has  come  for  a  time  to  the 
locks,  and  it  was  brought  to  a  standstill  there.     The  door 


ii8  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

was  opened  and  it  slid  in.  Then  the  door  was  shut ;  the 
door  on  the  other  side  was  opened  again,  and  the  water 
came  pouring  in  ;  and  if  you  were  on  board  the  boat,  you 
might  fancy  for  the  time  you  were  standing  still,  but  really 
every  drop  of  water  that  was  brought  into  the  lock  was 
raising  the  boat,  so  that  by-and-by  it  came  to  a  higher 
level  ;  and  then  when  it  was  raised  to  that  higher  level, 
the  door  was  thrown  open  again,  and  the  boat  was  drawn 
out  to  pursue  its  onward  course.  Just  so  is  it  with  many 
of  the  great  enterprises  that  God  entrusts  to  men.  Just  so 
has  it  been  with  the  mission  work  in  general.  Just  so  has 
it  been  with  the  history  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 
Men  have  been  disposed  to  say  that  things  were  standing 
still  when  in  reality  there  was  progress  being  made  ;  only 
for  the  time  we  needed  faith  to  believe  that  the  progress 
was  going  on.  Gradually  it  began  to  dawn  upon  us  that 
we  were  being  raised  to  a  higher  level.  Bless  the  Lord 
to-day  that  the  higher  level  has  been  reached,  and  that  we 
are  moving  on  and  that  we  can  see  it  with  sight  as  well  as 
believe  it  by  faith.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  this  progres- 
sive work  of  the  Society  is  not  a  matter  in  which  we  are  at 
liberty  to  choose  for  ourselves. 

"  And  in  old  age  when  others  fade, 
They  fruit  still  forth  shall  bring  ; 
They  shall  be  fat  and  full  of  sap, 
And  aye  be  flourishing." 

Now,  dear  friends,  we  are  bound  to  make  this  progress 
and  to  take  these  onward  steps  for  many  reasons.  For 
one  thing,  our  Lord's  command  is  certainly  as  imperative 
upon  us  as  it  was  eighty  years  ago.  For  another  thing, 
we  have  learned  by  experience  that  our  own  self-interest 
demands  that  we  at  home  shall  labour  heartily  and  ear- 
nestly for  the  advance  of  this  cause.  The  fact  is  the 
Churches  at  home  cannot  afford  to  give  up  the  contribu- 
tions to  mission  effort.  It  all  comes  back  to  us  in  a 
thousand  ways,  and  we  are  to-day  a  thousand  times 
stronger  and  more  intelligent  and  wiser  and  better  Chris- 
tians than  if  there  had  been  no  mission  effort  during  these 
last  eighty  years.  Then  we  have  to  remember  that  this 
is  not  a  cause  which  lies,  so  to  speak,  in  the  outer  court 
of  religion.     It  is  not  a  matter  which  we  are  at  liberty 


PROGRESS.  119 


to  exercise  our  own  option  upon  as  to  whether  we  shall 
or  whether  we  shall  not  cultivate  a  missionary  spirit. 
A  man  cannot  be  a  Christian  in  any  sense  worth  the 
name  who  has  not  a  missionary  spirit,  and  who  is  not 
prepared  to  do  aggressive  work  against  the  great  enemy 
of  God  and  man.  Why,  we  commonly  say,  "  To  do 
good  a  man  must  first  of  all  be  good  ;  "  but  it  is  also 
true  that  a  man  cannot  be  good  without  insensibly, 
when  he  thinks  not  of  it,  doing  good.  Many  of  you 
may  have  noticed  during  the  last  severe  winter  in  the 
houses  that  were  opposite  your  own  that  the  house- 
tops one  morning  were  covered  with  snow.  Well,  you 
might  have  removed  the  snow  by  sending  men  to  shovel 
it  up  and  pitch  it  down  from  the  roof  of  the  house  to 
the  street.  I  do  not  suppose  that  was  done  in  one  out 
of  a  thousand  cases.  All  that  you  needed  was  to  have 
the  servants  kindle  the  fire,  to  set  the  family  to  work, 
to  begin  the  life,  and  motion,  and  activity,  and  brightness, 
and  love  of  domestic  life,  and  insensibly,  before  you  knew 
it,  before  you  had  thought  of  snow  at  all,  the  snow  had 
melted  —  it  had  disappeared.  And  just  so  is  it,  dear 
friends,  with  the  frosts  of  selfishness,  and  vvorldliness,  and 
idolatry,  and  sin.  If  we  could  only  get  Christian  men  as 
such  to  exemplify  the  power,  and  the  love,  and  the  life, 
and  the  brightness  of  Christ,  many  a  heart  that  is  sealed 
against  all  argument,  many  a  spirit  that  will  not  respond 
to  the  Master's  voice,  would  be  compelled  to  surrender, 
and  would  gladly  say,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to 
do  } "  But  there  is  direct  Christian  efi"ort  involved  as  well 
in  all  that  Christ  calls  a  man  to  when  he  enters  into  His 
Church.  Sometimes  I  have  heard  men  say,  when  they 
wanted  to  excuse  themselves  from  direct  personal  effort, 
"  Why,  look  at  Christ.  When  the  leper  wanted  to  pro- 
claim all  that  He  had  done  for  him,  did  not  Christ  forbid 
him .'"'  My  invariable  answer  has  been,  when  the  objection 
came  to  me  in  that  form,  "  Yes  ;  and  you  may  hold  your 
tongue  when  Christ  forbids  you  to  speak,  and  not  till  then. 
Until  you  are  prepared  to  do  that,  you  are  not  prepared  to 
argue  for  the  analogy  of  the  leper."  Why,  you  have  that 
Christian  spirit  in  Paul's  language  when  he  says,  "  Woe  is 
unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel."  You  have  it  in 
Peter's  language  when  he  says,  "  We  must  speak  the  things 


I20  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  You  have  it  in  Luther's 
language  when  he  said,  ''  Here  I  stand  ;  I  can  do  no 
otherwise  ;  God  help  me."  You  have  it  in  the  martyr's 
language  when  he  said,  **  If  you  cut  out  my  tongue  I  will 
speak  of  Christ  with  my  fingers,  and  if  I  cannot  speak  of 
Christ  with  my  fingers  I  will  speak  of  Him  with  the  linea- 
ments of  my  face  ;  "  and  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  thus  to 
be  fired  with  Christian  enthusiasm  without  at  once  feeling 
that  the  surplus  of  energy,  the  surplus  of  efibrt,  the  surplus 
of  sympathy,  ought  to  go  right  away  to  the  mission-field. 
The  woman  brings  no  credit  to  Christ  who  goes  to  a 
prayer-meeting  and  leaves  a  pile  of  stockings  undarned  at 
home  ;  and  the  merchant  brings  no  credit  to  Christ  who 
goes  up  and  down  preaching  sermons  and  leaves  a  heap  of 
letters  unanswered  in  his  office.  We  must  all  of  us  stick 
to  the  worldly  post,  as  some  people  call  it,  to  which  God 
has  appointed  us ;  but  whilst  honouring  Christ  in  our 
business  we  must  honour  Him  with  our  substance,  and  to 
the  utmost  of  our  power;  by  our  sympathy,  by  our  prayers, 
by  our  eftbrts,  by  our  contributions,  support  the  men  who 
have  gone  far  hence  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen. 
I  do  not  argue  this  question  from  any  other  point  to-day. 
Sometimes,  I  confess,  I  feel  very  cross,  and  feel  very  much 
disposed  to  answer  gruffly  men  who  talk  against  the  work 
of  our  Missionary  Society,  and  who  talk  against  the  work 
of  our  missionaries.  Not  very  long  ago  I  met  with  some 
such  cases  as  these — men  who  were  prepared  to  say  that 
they  thought  missionaries  ought  to  go  abroad,  and  ought 
to  support  themselves,  as  Paul  did,  by  the  labour  of  their 
hands.  The  answer  to  that  seems  to  me  very  simple,  so 
far  as  an  arginnentiun  ad  lioviinem  is  concerned.  If  you 
rich,  wealthy  Christian  men  who  bring  that  argument  are 
prepared  to  reduce  yourselves  to  the  same  social  level  as 
the  men  to  whom  Paul  preached  ;  if  you  are  prepared  to 
sell  your  pictures^  if  you  are  prepared  to  part  with  your 
furniture,  if  you  are  prepared  to  give  up  the  appliances  of 
comfort  and  luxury  in  which  you  live,  so  that  you  are  on 
a  fair  social  level  with  the  men  whom  Paul  gathered  into 
the  Churches  which  he  was  called  to  found  ;  then  I  venture 
to  say  for  myself,  I  venture  to  say  for  the  ministers  at 
home,  I  venture  to  say  for  every  missionary  in  a  foreign 
field,  we  are  prepared  to  take  the  position  which  Paul  did. 


PROGRESS.  121 


Rather  than  that  the  Gospel  should  not  be  preached,  we 
are  ready  to  go  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  wear  our 
fingers  to  the  bone  that  our  bodily  wants  may  be  sustained. 
But  it  is  unfair  and  ungenerous  in  the  extreme  for  men 
who  are  living  at  ease  and  in  comfort  at  home  to  bring 
such  an  argument  as  that  when  they  are  not  prepared  to 
take  the  other  side  of  the  analogy,  and  so  to  make  things 
level  to  the  circumstances  in  which  Paul's  case  would  be 
an  analogy.  But  that  is  not  the  point  which  I  should  like 
to  impress  upon  you,  and  which  I  try  to  impress  upon 
myself.  Our  friends  who  are  labouring  abroad  are  our 
missionaries  there,  our  representatives  ;  they  are  doing  our 
work  ;  they  are  standing  in  our  place ;  they  are  accom- 
plishing that  work  which  we  are  not  able  to  do  because 
God  in  His  providence  has  placed  and  keeps  us  here, 
because  from  external  circumstances  we  are  not  able  to  go 
ourselves  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  ;  and  I  say 
to  have  a  niggardly  Christian  under  such  circumstances 
is  not  simply  a  crying  shame  but  is  a  gross  impossibility. 
I  can  understand  a  man  being  a  niggard,  a  man  who 
gathers  all  into  his  own  purse  and  strong  box.  I  can 
understand  a  man  being  a  Christian,  a  man  who  believes 
that  as  he  has  freely  received,  so  he  freely  ought  to  give  ; 
but  I  cannot  understand  how,  by  any  process  of  logic,  or 
rhetoric,  or  any  sort  of  is7u,  or  any  sort  of  ology,  you  can 
bring  the  two  things  together,  and  make  it  possible  for  the 
existence  in  the  Church  of  Christ  of  a  niggardly  Christian. 
A  niggardly  Christian  is  no  Christian.  He  is  disloyal  to 
Christ,  he  is  recreant  to  all  the  promises  which  he  made 
when  he  undertook  the  work  and  service  of  Christ. 
Brethren,  the  deepest  truth  in  the  question  when  we  pro- 
pose to  discuss  the  opposition  and  opponents  of  Christ's 
work  is  this  :  Christ,  not  Satan,  is  the  Lord  and  Prince  of 
this  world  ;  God,  not  the  devil,  is  the  King  and  Ruler 
of  men.  When  he  offers  the  "kingdoms  of  this  world  and 
the  glory  of  them,"  he  is  a  liar  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him. 
They  are  not  his  to  give.     Not  Satan,  but 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Doth  his  successive  journeys  run  ; 
His  kingdom  stretch  from  shore  to  shore 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more.'* 


122  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

XI.  The  Salvation  of  Israel.     By  Rev.  Dr.  Moody 

Stuart. 

When  we  read  of  three  or  four  baptisms  in  the  course 
of  a  year,  our  Christian  progress  seems  extremely  slow, 
but  these  swell  into  a  goodly  number  in  process  of  time. 
When  I  was  in  Pesth  many  years  ago,  I  learned  there 
had  been  a  hundred  Jews,  young  and  old,  baptized  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  I  addressed  about  thirty- 
five  of  them  shortly  through  an  interpreter.  It  was  an 
affecting  sight  to  see  so  many  of  the  children  of  Abraham 
professing  to  be  followers  of  Him  whom  their  fathers 
crucified  ;  but  I  shall  never  forget  one  young  man,  about 
twenty-five  years  old,  who  did  not  speak  formally  in 
the  name  of  the  rest,  but  gave  utterance  for  himself  and 
for  them  to  the  irrepressible  emotions  of  his  heart.  His 
only  object  seemed  to  be  that  of  the  Samaritan  leper,, 
who  returned  and  thanked  God  with  a  loud  voice  for  his 
recovery.  I  could  not  but  conclude  that  that  young  man 
had  found  for  himself  the  pearl  of  great  price,  and  that  he 
still  retained  the  warmth  and  freshness  of  his  first  love. 
While  he  pressed  my  hand  in  both  of  his,  the  burden  of 
his  heart's  outpouring  was,  "Thank  the  friends  in  Scotland 
for  sending  us  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ."  Mr.  Moody 
Stuart  then  gave  an  account  of  a  visit  he  'had  paid  to  a 
Jewish  burying-ground,  over  which  was  placed  the  inscrip- 
tion, "  The  house  of  the  living,"  showing  that  Abraham's 
children  retained  a  firm  hold  of  Abraham's  faith  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  He  then  described  a  visit  he  had 
paid  to  a  large  diamond  factory  in  the  Jewish  quarter,  with 
all  its  workmen  Jews.  The  work  is  so  extensive  that  the 
diamond  trade  in  connection  with  it  is  said  to  give  subsis- 
tence to  about  10,000  of  the  Jews  in  Amsterdam,  and  the 
skill  of  the  workmen  is  so  noted  that  some  of  them  were 
sent  off  to  London  to  polish  the  Koh-i-noor  diamond  of 
our  Queen.  Their  knives  are  diamond  chisels,  and  as  hard 
emery  powder,  which  polishes  the  agate  and  the  sapphire, 
is  too  soft  for  their  purpose,  it  gives  place  to  diamond  dust. 
The  flint  cuts  the  marble,  the  diamond  cuts  the  flint,  and 
the  diamond  alone  cuts  the  diamond.  But  they  showed 
us,  among  their  treasures,  one  stone  which  there  is  no 
other  stone  in  the  world  hard  enough  to  cut,  and  which 


THE  SALVATION  OF  ISRAEL.  123 

therefore  lies  there  useless.  The  first  thought  was  to  plead 
for  one's  self  to  have  the  heart  of  stone  taken  away  ;  the 
second  was  to  remember  that  the  heart  of  the  Jew  is  com- 
pared not  merely  to  stone,  but  to  the  adamant  stone,  or 
the  diamond  described  elsewhere  as  the  "  adamant  harder 
than  flint."  "  For  they  made  their  hearts  an  adamant 
stone,  lest  they  should  hear  the  words  of  the  Lord,  there- 
fore cometh  great  wrath  from  the  Lord  of  hosts."  But 
again,  what  was  this  adamant  of  adamants  to  look  upon — 
this  diamond  harder  than  all  the  diamonds  of  the  earth  ? 
The  Lord  said  to  His  prophet,  "  Go,  get  a  potter's  earthen 
bottle,  and  break  the  bottle  in  their  sight,  and  say.  So  will 
I  break  this  people  as  a  potter's  vessel,  because  they  have 
forsaken  me."  That  adamant  stone  is  believed  to  be  of 
exquisite  lustre  and  of  immense  value  if  any  man  could 
bring  forth  its  hidden  beauty.  But  meanwhile  it  is  so  like 
Jeremiah's  broken  piece  of  an  earthen  bottle  that  not  one 
man  in  50,000  would  stoop  to  pick  it  up  from,  the  street. 
It  is  very  like  the  broken  stopper  of  a  bottle  of  coarse 
green  glass,  and  surely  this  stone  presents  a  lively  image 
of  that  people  in  whose  charge  it  rests.  A  piece  of  old 
broken  pottery  that  cannot  be  mended,  and  whose  use  on 
this  earth  is  long  since  passed  for  ever,  is  the  world's 
estimate  of  the  Je-.vs,  and  God  Himself  said  that  He  would 
make  them  such  in  the  eyes  of  men.  Yet  the  same  Lord 
God  also  charges  them  with  making  their  hearts  adamant  ; 
and,  changing  the  image,  by  the  same  prophet  says,  "  The 
Lord  their  God  shall  save  them,  and  they  shall  be  as  the 
stones  of  a  crown," — as  the  polished  sapphire  or  the  ada- 
mant in  a  royal  diadem.  When  once  it  has  been  fairly 
seen  that  the  heart  of  the  Jew  is  too  hard  for  the  hand  or 
skill  of  men,  the  Lord  Himself  will  take  up  their  case,  and 
taking  into  His  own  hand,  and  putting  forth  His  own  skill 
upon  this  despised  fragment  of  a  potter's  earthen  bottle, 
He  will  say,  "  Thou  shalt  be  called  by  a  new  name,  which 
the  mouth  of  the  Lord  shall  name  ;  thou  shalt  be  a  crown 
of  glory  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  a  royal  diadem  in 
the  hand  of  thy  God."  I  shall  just  read  a  i^w  sentences 
from  a  missionary's  letter,  relating  to  a  visit  paid  to  a  re- 
spectable Jewish  family  in  a  village  across  the  Bohemian 
frontier  : — "  The  colporteur  and  I  arrived  about  noon,  and 
remained  till  next  morning ;  and  literally,  from  the  time  I 


124  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


entered  the  house  till  eleven  at  night,  I  was  not  suffered  to 
be  silent  five  minutes.     With  L.  himself  and  his  daughter, 
I   had  long  and  earnest  conversation  ;  the   heart   of   the 
latter  is  very  tender,  but  Mrs.  L.  was  the  person  to  whom 
I  trust  the  visit   was  especially  blessed.     Our   colporteur 
contemplated  her  with  wonder  as  she  sat  listening  to  the 
w^ord,  and  whispered  to  a  neighbour  that  'such  things  as 
these   she  had  never  heard  before.'     When  I  touched  on 
the  passage,   'they  shall  look  on    Him   whom  they  have 
pierced,'  she  asked  her  husband  where  that  was.     He  took 
the   Hebrew  Bible  and  translated  it  to  her  literally  from 
the  Hebrew.     She  was  much  affected,  and  would  seemingly 
have  sat  up  all  the    night.     Next   morning    she  said,   *  I 
think  the  reason  why  our  fathers  did  not  receive  Him  was 
that  He  came  as  a  common  man,  and  not  as  a  prince  or  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven.'     This  led  me  to  explain  Isaiah  liii. 
Her  husband  said,  '  It  is  the  truth  ;  we  cannot  say  a  word 
against  it.'     She  burst  into  tears  and  said,  '  To  think  that 
we  are  thus  straying  and  wandering  like  lost  sheep,  crying 
and  praying,  and  not  knowing  whether  we  are  heard,  and 
the    Messiah    is    there:     7t    was    an    affecting    sight,    this 
Israelitish  family  thus  bowing  their  hearts  before  the  Re- 
deemer.    There  is  still  something  to  forbid  water,  till  the 
Holy  Ghost  come  down  with  His  baptism  of  fire  ;  but  I 
left  with  a  heart  full  of  thankfulness  to  God,  and  hope  of  a 
full  blessing  through  the  prayers  of  God's  people."     With 
regard  to  the  schools  at  Pesth,  they  had  the  interesting  fact 
of  a  large  number  of  Jewish  parents,  not  only  sending  their 
children  to  a  Christian  school,  but  paying  Christian  mis- 
sionaries  for  giving  their  children  an  education  in  which 
the   New  Testament  of  our   Lord    Jesus   Christ  is   daily 
taught,   explained,  and  enforced.     No  doubt  their  object 
was  that  their  children  should  get  on  better  in  the  world  ; 
but  there  must  be  a  wonderful  removal  of  prejudice  on  the 
part  of  parents  to  induce  them  to  go  so  far.     These  boys 
and  girls  would  leave  school  with  their  prejudices  against 
Christianity  weakened  or  removed,  or  probably  turned  into 
prepossession  in  its  favour.     Now,  these  children,  grown  to 
be  men  and  women,  read  in  their  Bibles,  or  hear  in  their 
synagogues,  the  22nd   Psalm,  the   53rd  of  Isaiah,  or  the 
1 2th  of  Zechariah,  and  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say  that 
many  of  them  will  never  all  their  lives  be  able  to  hear  the 


CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  IN  INDIA,  125 

words,  "They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet/^  *' He  was 
led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter/'  "  They  shall  look  on  me 
whom  they  have  pierced,"  without  awakening  the  thought 
of  Christ,  and  Him  crucified. 


XII.     Christian  Literature  in  India.  By  Rev. 
J.  P.  Chown. 

It  was  seventy  years  since  Carey,  Marshman, and  Ward  took 
their  stand  at  the  meeting  of  four  cross-roads  at  Serampore, 
where  they  joined  in  singing  some  Christian  hymns,  and, 
after  having  done  so,  distributed  copies  of  those  hymns 
among  those  who  were  present  That  was,  he  believed, 
the  beginning  of  circulation  of  Christian  literature  in 
India.  In  the  course  of  the  year  there  had  been  distributed 
a  thousand  Christian  tracts  ;  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years  the 
number  had  been  increased  to  nearly  a  million,  and  mani- 
fest blessings  had  followed  ;  and  from  the  commencement 
of  the  work  up  to  the  present  time,  ten  millions  of  religious 
tracts  and  other  publications  had  been  circulated  in  India 
through  the  influence  of  this  Society.  There  had  been 
many  indications  of  satisfactory  progress  in  the  diffusion  of 
Christian  truth  through  the  medium  of  tract  distribution. 
It  was  not  merely  that  tracts  had  been  received,  but  it 
appeared  that  many  natives  had  come  to  the  missionaries, 
and,  flinging  themselves  at  their  feet,  and  embracing  their 
knees,  had  entreated  in  terms  of  pathetic  supplication  that  a 
tract  might  be  given  to  them.  That  showed  an  appreciation 
of  the  work  by  those  for  whom  it  was  intended,  which 
could  scarcely  have  been  surpassed  in  any  country.  Fur- 
ther, not  only  had  tracts  been  received,  not  only  had  many 
of  the  natives  shown  an  earnest  and  eager  desire  to  obtain 
them,  but  great  numbers  of  tracts  had  been  bought,  as  it 
were,  from  the  poverty  of  natives.  The  increase  in  the 
money  received  for  tracts  had  for  some  time  past  been 
constant  and  rapid.  As  regarded  the  character  of  the 
publications  of  that  Society  he  would  observe,  that  as  it 
had  been  said  that  there  was  not  a  village  in  the  country 
from  which  there  was  not  a  road  leading  to  London,  so 
there  was  not  a  tract  of  that  Society,  which  did  not  lead 
the  way  to  Christ.     The  committee  had  throughout   the 


126  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Society's  career  taken  care  that  the  pubHcations  should 
always  be  in  harmony  with  the  great  keynote  which  was 
struck  when  the  Society  was  founded.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  great  variety  in  the  Society's  works,  and  he 
hked  them  also  for  that  Its  publications  did  a  great  deal 
in  the  way  of  teaching  in  secular  or  scientific  matters. 
They  took  the  student  in  botany  through  the  various 
classes  of  plants,  but  they  also  spoke  of  the  Rose  of  Sharon ; 
they  taught  lessons  in  geology,  but  they  also  pointed  to 
the  imperishable  Rock  of  Ages  ;  they  taught  the  truths  of 
astronomy, and  showed  how  "the heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handiwork,"  but 
they  stopped  not  with  material  spheres  and  systems,  but 
bore  the  spirit  up  to  "  The  Bright  and  Morning  Star," 
"  The  Sun  of  Righteousness,"  in  whose  living  beams  the 
Society  wished  to  see  all  men  rejoicing.  Again,  he  had 
been  struck  with  the  fact  that  though  the  publications  of 
the  Society  were  good,  they  were  not  dull — that  they  were 
interesting,  attractive,  and  genial.  As  the  poet  said  of 
"  Divine  philosophy,"  that  it  was  "not  harsh  or  crabbed,  as 
dull  fools  suppose  ;  "  so  it  might  be  said  of  the  publications 
of  that  Society — that  they  had  a  sweet  ring  about  them, 
and  that  their  music  was  like  that  which  was  heard  around 
the  throne  of  God.  Further,  the  tracts  and  books  of  that 
Society  were  missionaries,  and  missionaries  of  no  inferior 
order.  They  had  been  reminded  that  evening  that  among 
the  books  sent  out  was  the  *' Pilgrim's  Progress."  John 
Bunyan  was  a  missionary  in  India.  He  found,  too,  that 
"  Jessica's  Prayer  "  was  out  there.  The  living  words  struck 
like  an  electric  spark  from  the  soul  of  a  Christian  woman 
had,  it  might  be  hoped,  entered  the  hearts  of  many  of  the 
natives,  and  set  them  on  fire  with  the  truths  embodied  in 
that  little  work.  He  also  perceived  that  Legh  Richmond 
was  in  India,  and  of  course  he  had  with  him  "The  Dairy- 
man's Daughter."  Although  the  authors  of  these  works 
had  gone  to  their  rest,  they  were  still  labouring  for  Christ 
through  the  works  themselves,  and  as  the  missionaries 
preached,  these  tracts  and  books  were  exercising  their 
silent  power.  If  missionaries  told  tales  connected  with 
religion  to  the  heathen,  so  did  these  tracts  ;  if  missionaries 
led  the  devotions  of  those  who  listened  to  them,  and  taught 
them  songs  of  Zion,  so  did  these  tracts.     One  tract  taught 


GO  FORWARD.  .  127 


the  hymn,  "Shall  we  gather  at  the  river  ?  "  Another  taught 
the  hymn,  "  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea."  Another, 
"  The  hour  of  prayer."  It  was  delightful  to  think  of  the  silent 
influence  which  was  thus  being  exercised,  and  it  surely 
became  them  all  to  indulge  feelings  of  devout  acknowledg- 
ment for  the  past,  and  of  earnest  confidence  and  anticipation 
for  the  future. 


XIII.    Go  Forward,     ^j  Rev.  Dr.  Morley  Punshon; 

Two  things  had  struck  him  in  connection  with  the  report: 
they  rejoiced,  for  the  first  time,  he  believed,  in  the  annals 
of  Methodist  missions,  in  having  a  station  at  Lucknow  ; 
and  that  there,  with  the  memories  of  their  slaughtered 
countrymen  and  countrywomen,  butchered  by  heathen 
cruelty,  they  had  been  permitted  to  show  them  the  nobility 
of  Christian  revenge.  The  other  thought  which  occurred 
to  him  in  connection  with  the  report  was  the  suggestive 
character  of  the  statement  that  public  discussion  had  been 
commenced  in  India.  Anything  in  the  world  rather  than 
the  stagnation  which  did  not  know  a  throb  !  Idols  were 
less  often  and  less  largely  propitiated  now  with  blood  than 
formerly  ;  the  priests  were  not  princes  now,  but  jugglers 
and  conjurors  in  their  hold  upon  the  people,  and  if  that 
everlasting  New  Zealander  who  cropped  up  so  often  in 
speeches  of  all  kinds  ever  did  take  his  seat  on  the  broken 
arch  of  London  Bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's,  in 
order  to  furnish  a  picture  for  the  Academy,  they  would  at 
least  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  it  was  they  who 
first  taught  him  to  draw.  Gotthold,  the  German,  told  a 
beautiful  fable  of  a  river  of. which  the  horses  drank,  and,  after 
having  slaked  their  thirst,  trampled  it  with  their  feet;  but 
the  river  sped  on  and  the  heaven  smiled  gratefully  upon  its 
rippling  waters,  as  it  flowed  through  the  corn-beds  and  the 
dwellers  upon  its  banks.  So  with  the  missionary  cause. 
Captain  Burton  dared  not  have  gone  to  Dahomey  if  the 
missionary  had  not  gone  there  before  him.  It  was  their 
missionary  who  had  opened  up  the  way  for  European 
civilization  and  European  commerce  into  those  dark  and 
benighted  regions  of  the  earth,  and  although  those  who 
were  indebted  to  the  mission  for  their  power  to  do  mischief 


128  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

turned  against  it — slaking  their  thirst  and  then  fouling 
the  residue  with  their  feet — onward  in  calm  kindliness,  un- 
heeding, should  flow  the  river,  and  everything  should  live 
"  whither  the  river  cometh.'"'  They  were  charged  with 
failure  :  failure  meant  inability  to  meet  one's  engagements; 
now,  they  had  engaged  to  do  nothing  except  to  obey  the 
Master.  They  had  not  engaged  the  success  ;  but  success 
had  been  given  them,  and,  comparing  the  state  of  the 
mission  Churches  with  those  at  home,  and  the  description 
given  of  the  Churches  of  old,  he  contended  that  the  success 
in  the  mission  field  had  been  as  great  as  of  old,  and  as  in 
this  country.  They  had  had  success  in  comparison  with 
anybody  else.  Model  farming,  colonisation,  education — 
these  were  things  of  which  they  had  often  heard  as  the 
means  which  were  to  aflect  the  mighty  change.  It  did  not 
appear  that  the  gentlemen  who  supported  missions  were  but 
bankrupts  in  originality  ;  their  works  would  bear  comparison 
with  those  of  the  discoverers  he  alluded  to  ;  and  they 
might  go  to  them,  of  course  modestly,  and  say,  "  Gentle- 
men, it  would  ill  become  us  to  be  unmannerly  (although 
they  call  us  so)  ;  we  may  be  pardoned  for  intruding  ourselves 
into  your  company.  We  are  poor  ;  we  are  uneducated, 
comparatively  uncultured  ;  we  are  not  members,  most  of 
us,  of  the  Anthropological  Society  ;  we  scarcely  dare  to 
come  between  the  wind  and  your  nobility  ;  we  have  failed, 
you  say  ;  but  where  are  your  successes }  Where  are  the 
nations  that  you  have  turned  about  from  barbarism  to 
civiHzation  t  Where  are  the  garlands  that  crown  the  altars 
upon  which  you  have  made  your  votive  offerings  to  the 
Pan  of  human  self-sufficiency  ?  What  reason  have  you  to 
sneer  at  us  for  the  apparent  failure  of  our  plans  ?  We  have 
written  few  romances  ;  we  have  shot  no  gorillas  ;  we  love 
life,  most  of  us  ;  but  we  trust  none  of  us  would  turn 
Mohammedans  to  save  it.  We  have  not  done  all  we  want 
to  do,  we  have  not  done  all  we  should  have  done,  we  have 
not  done  all  we  shall  do  ;  but,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we 
have  done  something  ;  and,  hark  you  !  we  tell  you  in  the 
face  of  the  world,  and  to  your  beard,  we  have  done  better 
than  you."  Their  duty  was  based  upon  the  command, 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  In  the  words  of  Burke,  at  Bristol,  to  his  con- 
stituents, he  would  say  to  them — "Applaud  us  when  we 


CONCRETE   CHRISTIANITY.      ■  129 

run,  cheer  us  when  we  fall,  console  us  when  we  recover, 
but,  above  all  things,  let  us  go  on  :   for  God's  sake  let  us 


XIV.     Concrete  Christianity.     ^7  Rev.  Dr.  Parker. 

Most  of  us  have  to  do  Vith  concrete  Christianity,  with 
its  history,  its  facts,  its  ascertainable  effects  upon  human 
temper  ;  and  we  find  upon  the  side  of  the  great  argument 
not  only  relief  from  the  noise  and  pressure  of  con- 
troversy and  restlessness  of  self-amending  philosophies  ; 
but  proof  upon  proof,  in  happy  and  endless  succession, 
that  Christ  Jesus  is  the  healer  of  man  ;  that  to  be  in  Christ 
is  to  be  a  new  creature,  and  to  be  at  the  cross  is  to  walk 
not  after  the  flesh  but  after  the  Spirit.  "  Where  is  the 
healed  man?"  must  be  the  constant  cry,  and  when  the 
healed  man  is  produced  he  must  be  weighed  as  part  of  the 
great  argument.  In  1832,  Charles  Darwin  took  his  voyage 
in  the  Beagle.  Coming  to  Tierra  del  Fuego,  he  said  :  ''  I 
believe  in  this  extreme  part  of  South  America  man  exists 
in  a  lower  state  of  improvement  than  in  any  other  part  of 
the  world."  Again,  he  says  :  "  These  poor  wretches  were 
stunted  in  their  growth,  their  hideous  faces  bedaubed 
with  white  paint,  their  skin  filthy  and  greasy,  their  hair 
entangled,  their  voices  discordant,  their  gesticulation 
violent"  ;  and  Darwin,  in  1832,  pronounced  the  inhabitants 
of  that  part  of  South  America  all  but,  if  not  wholly, 
hopeless.  What  can  Christianity  do  with  a  case  like  that } 
A  little  child  was  found  in  the  streets  of  Bristol.  He  was 
taken  to  the  workhouse  ;  found  on  St.  Thomas's  day,  he 
was  called  Thomas  ;  found  between  two  bridges,  he  was 
called  Bridges — Thomas  Bridges.  In  due  time  he  be- 
came the  Rev.  Thomas  Bridges.  He  sought  to  become  a 
missionary  in  South  America.  He  went  to  Tierra  del 
Fuego  just  as  described  by  Charles  Darwin  ;  he  studied 
the  tones,  he  gave  them  shape  on  paper,  he  exerted  his 
utmost  ingenuity  in  the  case,  and  gave  himself  night  and 
day  to  the  severe  labour,  till  he  was  able  to  translate  part 
of  the  Word  of  God  into  the  language  which  he  had  largely 
himself  created  for  the  people.  He  put  that  word  of  God 
into  their  hands,  explained  it,  lived  a  Christian  life  amongst 

K 


I30  PLATFORM  AIDS— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

them.  The  people  became  civilized,  Christianized,  and 
when  the  facts  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  great 
traveller  and  the  great  naturalist,  he  sent  a  donation  to  the 
Society  whose  agent  had  been  the  means  of  doing  this 
noble  work.  Beholding  the  land  that  was  healed  he  could 
say  nothing  against  it.  Our  own  Admiralty  had  issued 
orders  that  English  vessels  were  not  to  go  near  that  part 
of  South  America.  Intelligence  of  the  Christian  result 
was  brought  to  the  Admiralty,  and  the  orders  were  quite 
recently  revoked.  What  did  that  work  .?  Let  us  be  just ; 
let  us  be  decent  if  we  cannot  be  great — what  did  the  work.? 
In  the  name  of  simple  honour,  justice,  fairness,  .we  are 
bound  to  say  that  this  work  was  undertaken  by  Christian 
beneficence,  was  conducted  by  Christian  heroism,  and,  if 
any  one  is  to  be  crowned  in  view  of  this  most  glorious 
result,  who  will  deny  that  the  crown  is  due  to  Him  who 
bowed  His  sacred  head  and  died,  tasting  death  for  every 
man  } 

XV.  Gospel  Victories.     ^7  The  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 

The  blessing  of  God  was  to  be  expected  to  incline  to 
the  side  of  doctrinal  truth.  The  victories  of  the  gospel 
in  early  days  were  won  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  and  by 
the  Word  of  His  testimony.  When  Paul  encountered  the 
men  of  Athens  or  of  Rome,  he  did  not  set  before  them 
rationalism  or  asceticism  ;  not  words  of  wisdom  such  as 
man  teacheth,  but  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  When 
Christ  was  set  forth  by  him  it  was  not  in  carving  of  ivory 
and  ebony,  it  was  not  in  gorgeous  ceremonialism,  but  in 
the  simple  oral  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God.  The 
weapons  of  apostolic  warfare  were  those  which  recognised 
those  two  great  principles,  the  value  of  the  atoning  blood 
and  the  sovereignty  of  the  regenerated  Spirit.  If.  leaving 
the  victories  of  apostolic  days,  we  came  down  to  triumphs 
spoken  of  by  the  report,  the  successes  obtained  in  New 
Zealand  and  Sierra  Leone  were  all  obtained  by  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  by  the  exhibition  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified.  The  motto  of  the  missionaries 
had  been,  "  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but 
mighty  to  pull  down  the  strongholds  of  sensualism,  of 
sensuousness,  and  of  scepticism."     However  dark  the  day, 


THE  ROOT  IDEA  OF  GOSPEL  PROPAGATION.      131 

let  men,  with  David  of  old,  stick  to  the  testimonies  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  thus  the  only  course  of  safety  would  also  be 
taken.  The  signs  of  the  time  all  seemed  to  point  to  some 
great  on-coming  battle.  Forces  were  being  gathered 
against  the  Lord  and  His  Christ,  and  the  day  was  coming 
when,  figuratively  speaking,  the  mountains  would  be  cast 
into  the  midst  of  the  sea.  When  that  day  came,  only  that 
layman  would  be  safe,  only  that  clerk  would  be  safe,  who 
continued  true  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  Being  on  the  side  of  Christ,  they  would  be  on 
the  conqueror's  side.  Happy  the  men  who  did  not  look 
upon  the  weapons  used  by  Romaine,  Whitefield,  Scott, 
Venn,  Simeon,  as  mere  curiosities  that  might  hang  up  like 
pieces  of  armour  in  a  hall,  but  as  weapons  that  were  as 
good  and  true  now  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  old. 


XVI.     The    Root   Idea    of    Gospel  Propagation. 

By  Rev.  Dr.  Culross. 

In  the  course  of  a  sermon  on  this  subject.  Dr.  Culross 
said:  A  considerable  amount  of  home  mission  work  is  done 
over  the  country  by  single  Churches  and  associations  in 
their  own  proper  localities  ;  but  when  it  is  all  summed  up, 
there  still  remains  a  great  deal  that  is  not  overtaken,  and 
a  wide  field  for  the  general  Society  where  the  surface  is 
merely  scratched.  He  then  proceeded  to  exhibit  some  of 
the  first  principles  of  home  mission  work,  taking  for  his 
text  John  i.  41,  42.  Andrew  first  findeth  his  own  brother 
Simon,  and  saith  to  him,  "We  have  found  the  Christ  ;"  and 
then  he  brought  him  to  Jesus.  In  this  transaction  was  to 
be  found  the  root-idea  of  gospel  propagation,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad  ;  and  he  set  forth  three  lessons.  Find,  Tell, 
Bring:  these  three  words  mark  out  the  line  of  the  Society's 
work.  It  is  a  concerted  seeking  of  the  lost,  in  which  we 
keep  in  intelligent  and  sympathetic  connection  with  one 
another,  and  combine  our  efforts,  in  order  that  we  may 
bring  them  to  the  Saviour.  The  scope  at  home  for  evan- 
gelistic labour  w^is  illustrated  by  an  affecting  anecdote  of 
a  gentleman  in  London  whom  the  preacher  lately  attended 
on  his  death-bed.  The  gospel,  as  he  drank  it  in,  seemed 
altogether  new  and  wonderful  to  him  ;  when  told  about  the 


1 32         PL  A  TFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIB  UTION. 

magnificence  of  Divine  grace,  he  exclaimed,  "  Do  the 
people  of  London  know  that  ?  "  There  was  a  church  at  the 
end  of  his  street,  glorious  in  its  Gothic  architecture,  with 
saints  in  its  stained-glass  windows  ;  Christian  men  had 
met  him  in  business  week  after  week  ;  and  yet  the  story  of 
the  holy  Love  was  as  strange  to  him  as  if  he  had  spent  his 
life  in  Central  Africa.  There,  then,  in  green  and  quiet 
country  villages,  and  in  our  great  cities,  beneath  the  shadow 
of  our  steeples,  is  field  enough  for  such  a  Society  as  this, 
to  seek  our  brother  and  bring  him  to  Jesus.  In  one  of  the 
closing  passages  of  his  discourse.  Dr.  Culross  set  forth  the 
aim  of  the  Society  to  have  each  convert  and  member  of  the 
the  mission-church  a  missionary.  The  Christian  is  not  a 
marble  statue  chiselled  by  a  Divine  Sculptor  to  show  his 
skill  ;  but  a  fresh  and  living  force  thrown  into  the  battle 
of  Jesus  Christ. 


III.     BIBLE    DISTRIBUTION. 

I.  The  Word  of  God.      By  The  Very  Rev.  Dean  Close. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1812  that  I  became  a  collector  of 
a  penny  a  week  for  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
under  the  direction  of  the  eldest  son  of  Bible  Scott,  and 
the  lesson  which  he  often  imparted  to  me  I  have  never 
forgotten.  I  may  truly  say  that  from  boyhood  to  youth, 
and  from  youth  to  manhood,  and  from  manhood  to  old 
age,  I  have  ever  loved  and  never  deserted,  and  never  failed 
to  support,  to  my  utmost  ability,  this  glorious  and  blessed 
institution.  I  have  supported  it  in  fair  weather  and  in 
foul.  There  have  been  occasions,  in  past  years,  when 
I  was  very  much  more  frequently  able  to  attend  your 
great  anniversaries,  when  this  room  was  not  more  than 
two-thirds  full,  if  so  much.  Division  and  strife,  always  the 
curse  of  the  Christian  Church,  had  found  its  way  even  into 
the  bosom  of  this  benevolent  and  Christian  society,  and 
hence  falling  off,  and  weakness  of  heart.  But  there  was 
something  in  her  which  I  shall  endeavour  to  show  before 
I  sit  down  that  prevented  the  good  ship  from  foundering. 
And  now  I  come  before  you  after  the  lapse  of  years,  feeling 


THE   WORD  OF  GOD.  133 

differently  from  what  you,  my  lord,^  must  feel,  who  have 
presided  here,  year  after  year,  for  twenty-five  years,  and 
God  grant  you  may  be  spared  much  longer.  You  are  inured 
to  the  changes  and  fluctuations  of  this  society.  I  li\'e  in 
a  far  country,  in  North  Britain,  according  to  the  direc- 
tion on  many  of  my  letters,  far  away  from  the  influence 
of  these  great  anniversaries,  and  I  have  been  little  able 
to  attend  them,  and  therefore  I  regard  them  from  a 
difl"erent  standpoint  to  that  from  which  your  lordship  will 
regard  them,  and  they  strike  me  as  most  wonderful  in- 
stances of  Divine  Providence.  I  speak  here  not  merely 
of  this  great  institution,  but  of  all  its  kindred  institutions, 
and  I  express  it  as  my  deep  conviction,  from  long  obser- 
vation, that  the  persistency  of  these  institutions,  their 
consistency  in  their  work,  their  gradual  increase  in  all 
their  proportions  and  all  their  usefulness,  is  a  constant 
miracle  and  evidence  of  the  truth  of  God  in  an  evil  and 
sinful  age.  There  is  one  text  in  the  Scripture  which 
appears  to  me  to  describe  in  three  lines  the  remarkable 
position  of  the  Christian  world  at  the  present  moment — 
"  They  shall  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord  from  the  West." 
When  that  was  written,  and  when  the  Gospel  was  first 
propagated,  the  pillars  of  Hercules  formed  the  West  ;  but 
now  beyond  those,  and  far  across  the  Atlantic,  another 
world  exists,  and  they  fear  the  Lord  from  Western  America. 
And  a  fifth  quarter  of  the  world,  if  I  were  not  using  an 
Irishism,  the  great  country  of  Australia,  has  come  amongst 
us.  "  They  shall  also  glorify  the  Lord  from  the  rising  of 
the  sun."  I  do  not  know  where  the  sun  rose  then,  but  it 
seems  now  to  rise  very  much  further  east  than  it  did  in 
those  days,  and  it  shines  upon  vast  countries  then  unknown. 
Here,  I  say,  is  an  expression  of  the  wide  diff"usion  of  the 
Gospel,  both  written  and  spoken,  and  I  affirm  it  constantly 
that  since  Christ  came  into  the  world  there  never  was 
anything  like  the  present  diffusion  of  the  Gospel.  The 
miracle  of  Pentecost  was  a  trifle  compared  with  the  miracle 
of  the  Bible  Society  that  speaks  in  220  languages.  I 
wonder  how  many  there  were  at  Pentecost — very  few 
indeed,  comparing,  I  say,  the  work  of  God  then  and  now ; 


^  The  spe:ch  was  delivered  in  Exeter  Hall,  and  the  meeting  was 
presided  over  by  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury. 


1 34         PLA  TFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIB  UTION. 

it  is  most  wonderful,  and  the  fact  cannot  be  denied.  I  am 
not  speaking  of  its  success,  or  of  the  number  of  conversions, 
but  of  the  extraordinary  historical  fact  that  if  you  take  a 
map  of  the  world  and  put  a  red  cross  wherever  the  Bible 
is,  and  wherever  the  missionary  is,  you  will  have  a  reflec- 
tion like  the  starry  heavens,  although  there  may  be  a 
deep-dark  sky  beyond.  This,  then,  is  one  remarkable 
feature  ;  but  my  text  goes  on  to  say  that  when  this  great 
diffusion  takes  place  "  The  enemy  shall  come  in  like  a 
flood  ;"  and  you  will  agree  with  me  in  that.  The  enemy 
does  come  in  upon  us  undoubtedly  like  a  flood,  whether 
it  be  in  the  wild  and  boisterous  waves  of  a  mountain  sea 
coming  over  tremendously  to  deluge  us  with  noise  and 
tempest  and  storm,  as  I  might  say  in  the  violence  and 
boisterousness  and  drunkenness  which  threaten  to  deluge 
the  land, — may  I  not  say  licensed  drunkenness  i* — and 
prostitution — must  I  say  licensed  prostitution  .'' — fearful 
things  !  And  these  are  evils  which  in  Scripture  lan- 
guage are  like  the  troubled  sea  when  it  casts  up  mire  and 
dirt.  But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  still  flood,  like  the 
solemn  rising  of  your  Thames,  calm  and  tranquil  ;  but  how 
they  watch  its  rise  inch  by  inch  !  A  few  more  inches,  and 
the  calm  flood  shall  deluge  10,000  houses  and  destroy 
on  every  side.  So  we  have  the  deluge  of  infidelity  and 
the  deluge  of  superstition  quietly  creeping  into  our  houses, 
stealing  our  families  and  our  children  ;  one  stolen  off  to 
infidelity  and  another  to  the  lies  of  the  apostate  Church 
of  Rome,  and  thus  it  is  that  there  is  unquestionably  an 
enemy,  the  devil.  Men  may  deny  his  very  existence ;  he 
holds  them  fast,  and  then  they  say,  "  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  devil  at  all  ;  we  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it." 
But  I  say  he  thus  comes  in  like  a  flood.  But  what  then  ? 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against 
him."  I  believe  the  history  of  the  world  from  the  days  of 
Paradise  until  now  will  tell  the  same  story,  that  whenever 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  earth,  whenever  the 
people  of  God  rise  to  their  duties,  then  the  devil  stirs  up 
his  people  either  to  direful  opposition  or  to  work  side  by 
side.  Now  as  this  is  the  case,  I  believe,  looking  from 
•  that  standpoint  of  forty,  fifty,  or  sixty  years  ago,  the 
great  Pilot  of  the  Christian  Church  foresaw  this  great, 
direful  flood  that  was  coming  in,  and  put  His  Spirit  into 


THE   WORD  OF  GOD. 


135 


the  hearts  of  little  bands  of  men  here  and  there  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  and  the  beginning  of  this,  to  pray 
and  think,  **  What  can  we  do  for  the  glory  of  God  ?  how- 
can  we  circulate  His  Word  ?  how  can  we  send  out  mis- 
sionaries ?"  They  did  not  know  what  they  were  doing, 
but  they  were  doing  a  great  work,  and  they  have  done  a 
great  work,  and  God  has  blessed  that  work.  But  that 
work  has  done  much  more.  I  believe  that  every  missionary 
society,  every  Bible  society,  every  evangelical  society  of 
every  kind,  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  lifting  up  a  standard 
here  at  home  to  drive  back  infidelity  and  superstition. 
When  we  are  working  for  this  Society,  and  circulating  the 
Bible  in  lands  and  languages,  the  names  of  which  I  should 
be  very  sorry  to  attempt  to  pronounce,  and  when  we  are 
having  statistics  and  figures,  which  I  have  abhorred  from 
my  school  days  even  to  the  present  moment ;  and  when 
we  read  of  these  great  many  Bibles  and  great  many 
missionaries,  we  think  we  are  only  sending  Bibles  or  send- 
ing ;Tiissionaries  to  Russia  and  I  know  not  where;  but  "we 
are  planting  the  standard  of  God's  truth  to  defend  us  at 
home,  and  to  save  us  from  the  incursions  of  infidelity  and 
superstition.  But  to  return  to  our  own  Society  for  a 
moment.  I  said  that  I  had  stood  by  her  in  fair  weather 
and  foul,  and  she  has  had  some  very  foul  weather,  and 
received  some  v^ry  heavy  shocks.  I  may  mention,  for 
instance,  when  I  was  young  the  wiseacres  used  to  say, 
"  Oh,  those  poor  fellows  at  Exeter  Hall  ;  let  them  alone  ; 
they  will  talk  themselves  quiet,  and  soon  be  tired  ;  the 
thing  will  evaporate,  and  it  is  all  momentary  superstition  ;" 
but  fifty,  sixty,  seventy  years  have  gone  on,  and  I  find  this 
big  room  as  full  as  ever  of  men  with  hearts  and  hands 
determined  to  promote  the  glory  of  God — and  notwith- 
standing this  Bible  Society  has  been  so  nearly  lost,  and 
had  such  bad  weather,  I  see  her  not  only  righted,  but  fully 
equipped,  and  she  is  now  laden  with  this  Word  of  God  in 
all  languages  and  tongues  ;  she  is  going  down  channel 
with  every  stitch  of  sail  set,  with  her  stun'sails  out  and 
the  breath  of  heaven  wafting  her,  and  I  am  sure,  despite 
Mr.  PlimsoU,  with  a  deck  cargo,  and  all  crowded  upon  her 
deck  ;  and  above  her  floats,  I  will  not  say  the  Royal  or 
Imperial  standard,  but  I  will  say  the  standard  of  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  the  flag   which   He  flies,  and   under   which  flag 


1 36         PLA  TFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIB  UTION. 

there  must  eventually  be  victory.  But,  allow  me  for  a 
moment  to  ask  the  question,  what  is  the  cause  of  this 
great  success,  especially  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  ?  I  daresay  very  few  of  you  have  looked  as  you 
ought  to  do  into  the  big  book  of  the  report.  Why,  it  is  a 
volume  !  I  cannot  read  it  a  quarter  through  ;  I  have  not 
time  to  do  so  ;  but  I  skimmed  it  over,  and  what  a  wonder- 
ful report  it  is  !  What  extraordinary  facts  are  produced  ! 
And  then  we  come  to  another  wonderful  thing.  Where 
does  all  the  money  come  from  ?  When  I  go  round  the 
country  I  hear  very  few  people  talking  about  the  poor  old 
Bible  Society.  It  is  preached  for  in  fewer  pulpits  than 
any  other  society  I  know  of,  but  yet  it  does  not  fail — nay, 
it  increases.  And  it  is,  as  it  ought  to  be,  the  parent  society 
of  all  societies,  and  takes  the  lead  in  money  matters  as  in 
everything  else.  But  what  is  your  strength  t  Where  is 
it }  No  doubt  there  have  been  great  skill,  great  learning, 
deep  piety,  and  many  prayers — I  would  not  undervalue 
human  agency — and  I  confess,  as  an  old  friend  of  this 
Society,  I  felt  a  little  proud — I  do  not  know  whether  it 
was  right  or  wrong — when  the  literati  and  savans  could 
not  find  what  they  wanted  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  or  the 
libraries  of  Oxford,  or  the  British  Museum,  and  were  ob- 
liged to  come  to  the  depot  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  There  must  be  some  learning,  there  must 
be  something  worth  looking  at,  when  the  scientific  con- 
descend to  visit  our  stores.  Yes  ;  I  rejoice,  and  I  believe 
that  all  the  best  of  human  learning  and  human  piety  has 
been  devoted  to  this  great  work  of  translating  and  circu- 
lating the  Word  of  God.  But  even  this  is  not  the  reason 
of  your  success.  Why  has  not  your  ship  sunk  under  these 
storms  ?  It  is  because  of  the  cargo  which  she  bears  ; 
it  is  because  she  bears  the  Word  of  the  living  God  and 
the  truth  of  God,  and  the  ship  swims  because  of  her 
cargo.  You  recollect  many  of  those  Northern  timber 
ships  ;  they  suffer  tremendously  in  bad  weather,  and  some- 
times they  have  all  their  crew  swept  ofT  their  decks  ;  but 
they  cannot  sink,  because  they  are  laden  with  timber  ;  and 
so  it  is  with  the  Bible  Society.  Beat  her  as  you  will,  abuse 
her  as  you  may,  find  fault  with  her  as  you  choose,  she  will 
swim  in  spite  of  all,  because  she  has  the  cargo  of  the  Word 
of  the  living  God  !     And  what  is  that  cargo  }     Let  me  be 


THE  WORD  OF  GOD.  137 

a  Custom  House  officer  for  a  while,  and  go  and  examine 
the  cargo  of  this  ship.  Perhaps  you  will  tell  me  it  is  a 
very  old  story,  a  very  old  Book,  that  you  all  know  what  it 
is^the  Bible.  Yes.  What  is  the  Bible  t  God's  written 
Word,  or,  as  we  call  it  in  the  Church  of  England,  God's 
Word  written.  I  do  not  like  that  definition  altogether. 
It  is  true,  but  not  the  whole  truth  by  a  great  deal,  and  it 
is  a  definition  which  some  are  disposed  to  take  advantage 
of.  There  are  some  folks  amongst  ourselves  who  sneer  at 
the  written  Word,  and  they  say,  "  Oh,  the  world  will  never 
be  converted  by  a  book  ;  it  was  not  the  written  W^ord  that 
the  apostles  and  the  prophets  and  our  Lord  circulated,  but 
it  was  the  voice  of  man  that  did  it."  Some  folks  build 
that  pyramid  with  the  apex  downwards  in  my  judgment  ; 
they  put  the  Bible  upon  the  Church,  instead  of  the  Church 
upon  the  Bible.  But  that  is  not  the  Protestant  or  the 
Article  view  of  it.  I  say  to  those  who  advance  that  argu- 
ment, "  How  do  you  find  out  that  the  Gospel  was  circulated 
rby  the  voice  of  man  and  not  by  the  Word  V  They  found 
it  in  the  Bible.  They  would  never  have  known  anything 
about  it  if  it  had  not  been  there  ;  and  what  they  know 
beyond  that  I  do  not  care  much  about  or  have  much 
respect  for.  Here  we  come  to  the  grand  point — the  view 
that  you  take  of  this  blessed  Book,  what  is  it  ?  It  is  not 
merely  and  simply  the  written  Word  of  God.  The  Epistles 
and  the  New  Testament  are  the  written  Word  of  God, 
Perhaps  the  Proverbs,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  Ecclesi- 
astes  are  the  written  Word  of  God,  but  the  rest  of  the 
Bible  is  not  the  written  Word  of  God.  It  was  all  spoken 
before  it  was  written.  It  is  the  record  of  the  oral  Word 
of  God  in  all  ages.  Our  Lord  speaks  of  it,  and  echoes  back 
the  Old  Testament,  "  Every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Lord."  That  is  not  written — it  is  spoken. 
And  I  look  at  the  source  of  this,  and  see  it  magnificently- 
exhibiting  the  idea.  Amidst  the  thunders  and  earthquakes, 
and  sounds,  and  sights  of  Sinai,  it  is  there  said,  "  God 
spake  all  these  words  " — with  a  voice  that  made  the  nations 
hear — and  when  He  had  spoken  them  He  wrote  them, 
wrote  them  twice  with  His  own  finger  on  tables  of  stone. 
It  was  first  spoken,  and  then  written.  And  that  is  the 
history  of  the  great  bulk  of  this  blessed  Book.  It  is  the 
written  record   of  what   God  said   to  Adam  and  Eve  in 


138         PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

Paradise  ;  what  God  said  to  Abraham  in  the  dark  and 
thick  night  ;  what  He  whispered  in  the  ear  of  Jacob  when 
He  wrestled  with  him  ;  what  He  spake  to  Moses  eighty 
days  and  nights  on  that  Mount.  It  was  all  spoken  before 
it  was  written.  And  the  prophecies  of  God,  they  were  all 
spoken  before  they  were  written.  It  is  the  record  of  what 
was  spoken.  And  the  beautiful  Psalms — what  do  you 
think  of  them  ?  Were  they  spoken .?  No  ;  they  were 
prayed  and  poured  out  from  the  voice  of  the  penitent 
believer  ;  they  were  said,  they  were  sung ;  I  do  not  know 
whether  they  were  intoned  until  modern  times — that  I 
cannot  answer  for ;  but  I  am  certain  they  were  said,  and. 
sung,  and  prayed,  and  then  they  were  recorded  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  the  Book  for  your  edification  and  mine. 
And  what  are  the  Gospels  }  What  are  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  }  Are  they  merely  writings  written  from  God  to 
us  }  No,  they  are  the  records  of  the  very  voice,  and  word, 
and  action  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  so  that  when 
you  hear  this  Book  read,  you  hear  the  very  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself.  This  gives  me  an  idea  of  the 
dignity  and  power  of  this  Word  that  I  never  gained  till  I 
saw  it.  It  seems  to  me  a  kind  of  double  inspiration.  I 
have  no  longer  to  quibble  about  the  degree  of  inspiration 
of  this  or  that,  but  I  have  this  first  of  all  as  our  blessed 
Lord  said  Himself  "  Holy  men  of  old,"  as  the  apostle, 
"spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  They 
all  spoke.  Yes,  it  is  the  oral  tradition  of  the  Church  of 
the  living  God  recorded  by  a  Divine  reporter  for  our 
edification  to  the  end  of  time.  Therefore  it  is  that  this 
Society  is  as  prosperous  as  it  is  ;  therefore  it  is  that  I  feel, 
in  my  departing  address  to  you, — it  may  possibly  be  my 
last — it  will  be  my  comfort  and  consolation  that  though 
one  generation  of  advocates  pass  away,  another  will  rise 
up.  I  feel  almost  to-day  as  if  I  was  the  last  of  a  special 
race.  Your  fathers,  where  are  they  t  Where,  where  are 
the  men  who  for  years  and  years  pleaded  with  you  in  this 
room  }  Where  are  the  mighty  dead  who  have  died  in  the 
Lord  }  They  are  gone.  1  believe  few  in  this  room  will 
equal  even  myself  in  age,  and  in  devotion  to  your  Society. 
They  are  passed  away,  but  I  bless  God  that  there  are 
young  men  rising  up  among  you,  and  I  have  no  fear  for 
God's  cause  nor  for  His  word.      His  glory  is  wrapt  up  in 


THE  SILENCE   OF  THE   BIBLE.  139 

it.  Do  you  but  circulate  His  pure  and  unadulterated  word, 
and  the  Lord  will  bless  it  to  the  salvation  of  His  people, 
and  the  gathering  together  of  His  Church.  I  pray  God  to 
pour  His  abundant  blessing  on  you  all.  My  friends,  I 
pray  for  you  sincerely.  You  have  had  great  advantages 
in  London  since  I  knew  it  ;  you  have  been  roused  and 
stirred  up  by  American  piety  from  far  lands.  The  spirit 
of  the  Lord  is  there.  It  is  all  working  to  oppose  the  power 
and  dominion  of  Satan,  and  I  pray  God  that  you  may 
know  the  day  of  your  visitation,  and  that  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  here  present  to-day  representing  an 
interest  in  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  may  represent 
a  witness  and  a  testimony  to  the  power  of  the  Word  in 
their  own  souls,  that  they  may  feed  upon  it  day  and  night. 
As  an  old  man,  now  long  experienced,  I  can  say  to  you 
that  the  longer  you  study,  and  the  deeper  you  study,  and 
the  more  you  pray  over  that  Blessed  Word,  the  more  rich 
discoveries  you  will  make  of  God's  grace.  Instead  of  its 
being  a  stale  or  a  dry  book,  or  a  heavy  work,  the  light 
shines  brighter  and  brighter  on  every  page  ;  and  when  you 
want  it  most,  when  your  flesh  and  your  heart  fail,  and  those 
around  you  fail,  you  will  find  God  the  strength  of  your 
heart,  and  your  portion  for  ever. 


II.      The    Silence    of  the    Bible.      By    Dr.    Morley 

PUNSHON. 

A  SENTENCE  of  Archbishop  Trench's  has  been  ringing  in 
my  ears  repeatedly  this  morning.  In  one  of  his  Hulsean 
Lectures,  I  think,  he  says  something  like  this:  "That  it 
was  observed  by  one  wise  man  to  another  that  his  ques- 
tions taught  more  than  other  people's  answers  ; "  and  he 
refers  back,  if  I  remember  rightly,  to  the  Scripture  in  this 
aspect  of  it  :  "  That  the  silence  of  Scripture  is  often  more 
instructive  than  the  teaching  of  other  books."  Now  that 
silence,  as  it  appears  to  me,  may  not  be  inaptly  quoted  as 
an  evidence  of  the  Scriptures'  inspiration.  It  is  silent,  not 
by  inadvertence  ;  it  is  silent  by  design.  The  same  spirit 
which  prompted  the  writers  to  write  withheld  the  writers 
from  writing  when  the  Lord  did  not  will  the  inspiration. 
And  so  it  is  true,  as  Boyle  says,  that  the  Scripture  is  like 


I40         PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

a  dial  in  which  we  are  informed  by  the  shadow  as  well  as 
the  light ;  and,  again,  in  the  words  of  the  lamented  Archer 
Butler,  "  What  we  see  is  holy;  but  what  we  see  not  is  holier 
still."  It  is  the  glory  of  God,  we  are  told,  to  conceal  a  mat- 
ter. And  sometimes  to  repress  an  unhallowed  curiosity, 
and  sometimes  to  exercise  His  people's  faith,  and  some- 
times to  vindicate  His  own  prerogative,  and  sometimes — 
nay,  always — to  evolve  His  own  plans  into  clearer  and 
grander  harmony,  God  mingles  obscurity  and  brightness 
in  the  revelation  of  His  will.  There  is  no  obscurity,  mark 
you,  upon  the  matters  that  concern  salvation.  They  are 
all  as  clear  as  the  morning.  There  is  no  theorising  upon 
truth.  In  the  Scripture,  truth  is  dogmatically  asserted. 
We  do  not  get  hold  of  the  processes  in  which  the  results 
are  arrived  at ;  we  do  not  see  the  reasons  of  things  as 
they  present  themselves  to  the  Divine  mind.  And  if  it 
be  God's  Word,  it  must  be  so.  If  it  be  God's  Word,  we 
must  take  it  because  God  says  it,  and  we  must  not  be 
disposed  to  seek  out  irreverently  what  it  is  His  pleasure  to 
hide.  Human  silence,  you  know,  may  be  broken  by  human 
tests.  It  is  recorded  that  when  the  oracles  of  old  were 
rather  chary  of  response,  Alexander  politely  compelled  the 
priestess  to  the  tripod  and  made  her  speak.  And  on 
another  occasion,  when  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius  did  not 
liquefy  as  it  ought  to  have  done — when  the  priests  were 
either  unable  or  unwilling  (I  give  them  the  choice  of  the 
dilemma) — a  message  came  from  one  whose  position  gave 
him  power,  that  it  must  liquefy  in  half  an  hour  or  the  high 
priest  should  be  hanged.  But  in  spite  of  royal  will,  and  in 
spite  of  military  insolence,  the  silence  of  the  Scripture  re- 
mains inviolate.  The  seal  of  that  silence  cannot  possibly 
be  broken  by  the  touch  of  any  human  hand,  and  it  is  note- 
worthy— and  I  shall  come  to  my  point  very  shortly  (I  do 
not  know  that  I  am  very  far  from  it  now) — it  is  noteworthy 
that  the  subjects  upon  which  Scripture  is  silent  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  subjects  where  irreverent  curiosity  would 
fain  probe  to  the  uttermost,  and  where  speculations  have 
been  multiplied  almost  without  end.  We  ask  about  the 
creation  of  the  world  ;  it  is  dismissed  in  a  sentence,  almost 
in  a  word.  We  ask  about  the  angels — those  vast  and 
lofty  intelligences  who  are  so  powerful  for  good  or  evil. 
We   do   not   know    much    about    them    from    the    Word. 


THE  SILENCE   OF  THE  BIBLE:  141 

We  ask  about  the  existence  of  other  worlds;  we  would  fain 
know  something  of  the  conditions  under  which  they 
live — whether  there  is  sin  among  them — 

"  Whether  they  have  felt  above, 
Redeeming  grace  and  dying  love." 

We  know  nothing  about  it  from  the  Word.  We  ask  in 
reference  to  the  origin  of  evil  ;  we  find  scars  upon  the 
earth  ;  a  sickly  and  wailing  child,  volcano  and  pestilence, 
tyranny  and  wrong ;  and  if  God  be  God,  and  if  He  be  love, 
and  if  He  be  pure,  whence  .'*  why  ?  Scripture  is  silent.  It 
is  more  concern  to  discover  the  remedy  than  to  account  for 
the  disease.  We  ask  about  the  dead.  What  are  the  con- 
ditions of  their  existence  in  the  world  to  which"  they  are 
gone  on,  and  in  that  paradise  which  is  but  a  suburb  of 
heaven .''  We  do  not  know  ;  the  Word  is  silent.  Who, 
awed  by  the  loving  ministry  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  loving 
Him  intensely,  as  I  trust  we  are  getting  to  do  as  a 
personal  Christ — as  a  personal  Redeemer — who  of  us  has 
not  wondered  what  He  was  like?  We  know  all  about 
heroes.  We  know  all  about  poets  and  artists.  Every 
great  man  who  is  noteworthy  enough  to  live  in  memory  at 
all — either  the  pen  or  the  pencil  has  brought  him  before 
us  to  the  very  buckskin,  or  to  a  ribbon.  Many  painteis 
have  essayed  to  paint  Christ  ;  but  then  it  is  left  to  the 
imagination  entirely.  Raphael,  and  Correggio,  and  Caracci 
can  give  us  no  light,  nor  Matthew,  nor  Mark,  nor  John. 
Nay,  Luke  even, — for  he  was,  as  a  tradition  says,  painter 
as  well  as  physician — has  not  essayed  to  draw  for  us  upon 
canvas  the  features  of  the  Master  whom  he  loved.  Now, 
mark  where  Scripture  is  silent,  and  where  Scripture  speaks; 
silent  upon  matters  that  are  subordinate — rich  with  a 
speaking  fulness  upon  matters  that  are  supreme,  silent 
where  irreverent  curiosity  would  probe  or  arrant  fancy 
would  wander  ;  abundant  in  its  revelation  where  the  in- 
tellect thirsts  for  knowledge  and  where  the  hunger  of  heart 
would  be  satisfied  with  the  fulness  of  the  Word  ;  rich  in  its 
proclamation  of  everything  that  can  lead  the  tottering  steps 
of  a  wayfaring  man  to  Jesus  ;  abundant  in  its  revelation  of 
the  one  way  to  God  and  of  the  honours  that  are  to  be  given 
to  the  Redeemer  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  salvation  of 
sinners  ;  free  and  unrestricted  in  its  offers  of  mercy,  and 


142        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

with  such  a  power  in  its  words  that  the  lame  man  leaps  as 
a  hart  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sings  ;  yet  there  is  a 
silence — an  unmistakable,  inviolate,  painful  silence — where 
misgivings,  or  rather  scepticism,  would  inquire,  or  where 
unhallowed  curiosity  would  probe.  The  Bible  is  like  the 
Master  who  talked  freely  about  the  mysteries  of  His  king- 
dom to  blind  beggars,  and  to  fallen  but  penitent  women, 
but  who  uttered  not  a  word  to  the  blasphemous  audacity  of 
Caiaphas  and  the  insolent  impiety  of  Herod.  Now  I  should 
just  like  to  ask,  Is  not  there  something  in  this  that  may 
be  quoted  as  a  collateral  evidence  of  inspiration  ?  If 
an  impostor,  or  a  set  of  impostors,  had  gone  about  to 
write  a  book,  shrewd,  skilful  men,  knowing  human  nature, 
and  knowing  how  much  of  the  Athenian  there  is  about 
human  nature  still — for  all  the  Athenians,  you  remember, 
and  the  strangers  that  were  at  Athens,  were  bent  upon 
nothing  else  but  either  to  hear  or  tell  some  new  thing — if  a 
shrewd  impostor  had  tried  to  write  a  book,  would  he  not 
have  just  been  keen  to  satisfy  the  hunger  of  curiosity, 
which  is,  I  venture  to  say,  as  rife  in  human  nature  to-day 
as  it  was  in  the  time  when  the  inspired  writer  wrote  those 
words?  Have  not  impostors  uniformly  done  so?  The 
Apocryphal  Gospels,  the  heathen  mythologies,  the  Book  of 
Mormon — do  not  they  all  peer  underneath  the  surface,  and 
give  ridiculous  and  impious  details  in  their  endeavour  to 
be  wise  above  what  is  written  ?  It  is  the  Bible  alone  that 
preserves  a  dignified  and  majestic  simplicity.  Reticent 
upon  all  those  matters  that  might,  perhaps,  have  settled 
controversies  with  a  word,  but  that  are  not  necessary  to 
make  us  wise  unto  salvation  ;  and  so,  in  the  strong  words 
of  a  former  dignitary  of  the  Church  of  England,  a  grand 
man — Archbishop  Whately — no  impostor  would,  and  no 
enthusiast  could,  have  written  the  Scriptures.  They  are 
not  of  man's  device,  therefore,  but  they  are  the  words  of 
the  living  God.  Now,  it  has  struck  me,  that  we  are 
sometimes  in  danger  in  these  days  of  ours  of  conceding  a 
great  deal  too  much  to  our  adversaries.  I  am  afraid  that 
one  cause  of  the  apparent  hold  which  some  of  the  fashion- 
able scepticism  of  the  present  day  has  got  among  the  peo- 
ple is  a  sort  of  hesitancy  which  Christians  have  come  to 
have  in  speaking  with  such  men  about  their  belief  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.     Now,  if  we  show  them 


THE  SILENCE   OF   THE  BIBLE.  143 

that  we  begin  to  doubt  we  have  lost  half  the  battle.  Have 
we  faith  ?  That  is  just  the  question.  Have  we  faith  in  our 
own  cause?  For  my  part,  I  am  not  disposed  to  yield  a 
hair's  breadth  to  impudent  unbelief  For  m}'-  part  I  am 
disposed  to  claim,  that  the  Bible  should  be  the  great  intel- 
lectual educator  of  the  age.  Yes,  I  say  the  great  intel- 
lectual educator.  I  know  that  witlings  will  sneer  at  this. 
It  is  good,  they  say,  for  feminine  instincts — though  that 
is  a  grand  compliment  to  the  ladies,  by  the  way — good 
for  feminine  instincts,  good  for  emotional  satisfactions,  but 
altogether  out  of  place — a  laggard  behind  the  age — in 
reference  to  the  manly  growth  of  the  intellect  and  of  the 
reason  of  man.  Well,  Sir  William  Jones  did  not  think 
so  ;  Robert  Boyle  did  not  think  so  ;  Isaac  Newton  did 
not  think  so  ;  and  I  think  we  may  let  that  matter  pass 
until  we  get  a  modern  sceptical  philosopher  half  as  big. 
Guizot  has  put  that  strongly  in  his  lectures  on  civil- 
ization, where  he  claims  that  from  the  Reformation — 
which,  by  the  way,  was  the  very  first  thing  which  put  the 
Bible  into  the  hands  of  the  common  people — was  the  start 
in  that  race  for  intellectual  progress  which  gave  the  first 
wholesale  impulse  to  English  literature,  and  which  filled 
the  spacious  times  of  great  Elizabeth  with  sounds  which 
echo  still.  And  so  with  the  social  life  of  England,  for 
the  argument  might  be  almost  indefinitely  extended.  I 
am  not  at  all  concerned,  however,  at  this  meeting,  to 
defend  the  Bible.  I  want  to  encourage  ourselves  in  our 
adhesion  to  it — to  its  principles,  to  its  precepts  to  its 
hopes,  and  to  stimulate  our  personal  endeavour  to  circu- 
late it  unto  the  very  ends  of  the  earth.  In  my  best 
moments,  in  my  calmest  and  most  trustful  moments,  I  am 
not  afraid.  I  do  get  a  little  fretful  and  impatient  some- 
times. I  suppose  that  is  in  consequence  of  the  infirmity, 
or  of  the  lack  of  my  faith  ;  but  I  am  not  afraid  in  my 
highest  and  most  trustful  moments  at  all  as  to  the  future 
destiny  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Christianity  which  it  em- 
bodies. I  have  marked  how  God  has  been  in  connection 
with  it  from  the  beginning.  It  is  a  marvellous  thing  to 
think  about — that  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  there 
has  been  a  special  need  ;  there  has  been  a  special  interposi- 
tion. I  think  I  could  trace  out,  if  I  had  time,  that  God 
had  a  purpose  of  mercy  towards  Britain.     Now,  I  am  not 


144        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

going  into  ecclesiastical  history.  I  do  not  know,  certainly, 
whether  Paul  was  ever  in  Britain  or  not  ;  but  I  do  know 
that  Paul  was  in  Rome.  I  do  know  that  Eusebius  tells  us 
— and  he  is  rather  an  authority,  you  know,  as  an  ecclesias- 
tical historian — Eusebius  tells  us  that  Paul  was  in  Rome 
in  the  second  year  of  the  Emperor  Nero.  I  do  know 
this,  that  Caractacus,  the  Christian  King  of  Britain,  was  in 
Rome  as  a  hostage  at  the  same  time.  At  any  rate,  we 
know  that  Caractacus  and  Paul  were  both  in  Rome,  and  it 
was  at  the  time  when  Paul  was  acting  as  a  local  preacher 
— when  he  preached,  not  at  St.  Peter's,  but  at  his  own 
hired  house,  just  as  some  of  us  do  at  the  present  time,  who 
are  not  favoured  with  large  endowments,  and  that  sort  of 
thing.  He  preached  in  his  own  hired  house,  and  Carac- 
tacus and  Paul  being  in  Rome  together,  and  Caractacus 
coming  home,  as  some  say,  and  establishing,  or,  at  any 
rate,  aiding  in  the  establishment,  of  Christianity — that 
shows  that  just  as  God  sometimes  sends  the  heathen  to 
the  Gospel,  when  the  Churches  will  not  send  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen,  there  is  a  providence  over  all  the  affairs  of 
men  that  works  all  things  steadily  and  surely  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  His  own  great  and  gracious  ends.  Well, 
then,  if  you  come  down  a  little  further  still,  there  was  John 
Wycliffe  preaching  away  at  Oxford  with  most  wonderful 
vigour  and  success — with  such  wonderful  vigour  and  suc- 
cess that  the  mendicant  friars  hated  him,  and  they  got  up 
a  persecution  against  him,  and  drove  him  away  from  Ox- 
ford. Well,  that  was  not  the  only  time  that  a  grand  and 
good  thing  has  been  done  for  the  world  by  a  man  that  has 
been  driven  away  from  Oxford.  I  am  not  sure  that  we 
should  have  had  that  grand  battering  ram  against  Rome  if 
somebody  had  not  been  driven  away  from  Oxford.  How- 
ever, God  had  a  much  greater  work  for  Wycliffe  to  do 
than  he  could  ever  have  done  in  Oxford.  He  had  a  work 
that  required  the  seclusion  and  the  quiet  of  Lutterworth 
Rectory.  And  so  he  was  driven  away  from  Oxford  and 
silenced  from  preaching,  that  he  might  do  the  grander, 
nobler,  better  work  of  translating  the  Word  of  God.  His 
preaching  would  have  died  with  him.  When  the  tongue 
of  the  orator  is  silent  the  voice  of  his  persuasiveness  is 
over,  and  the  effect  only  exists  as  a  dream  of  exquisite 
memory.     But  the  labour  of  Wycliffe  is  a  labour  that  will 


THE   SILENCE    OF   THE   BIBLE,  145 

stand  for  ever.  After  Wycliffe  had  done  his  work,  and 
after  he  had  gone  home,  they  disinterred  his  bones.  The  nrst 
experiments  of  burning  that  were  made  in  a  certain  locality 
were  made  upon  bones — a  very  harmless  sort  of  thing 
though,  and  Wycliffe  suffered  posthumous  martyrdom — 
the  most  pleasant  sort  of  martyrdom,  I  should  fancy,  in- 
asmuch as  there  was  not  much  personal  feeling  about  it. 
But  you  know  what  has  been  said,  that  the  ashes  were 
taken  from  the  Swift  to  the  Avon,  and  from  the  Avon  to 
the  Severn,  and  from  the  Severn  to  the  sea,  and  were  scat- 
tered all  over  the  world.  Well,  then,  by-and-by  came 
Erasmus,  and  he  entered  upon  the  same  work,  too,  under 
the  same  disadvantages.  Henry  VIII.,  who,  with  all  his 
contradictions  of  character,  knew  a  strong  man  when  he 
saw  one,  and  had  rather  a  respect  for  strength,  was  dis- 
posed to  be  his  patron.  There  was  a  monk,  or  rather  a 
bishop,  who  \NdiS,  pi'oh  piidor^  ignorant  enough  to  say  that 
Paul's  epistles  were  written  in  Hebrew,  who  did  not  like 
Erasmus  at  all,  and  who  waxed  very  wroth  both  with  him 
and  his  book  ;  upon  which  King  Henry  VIII.  whispered 
in  his  ear  one  day,  "  It  is  not  quite  safe  for  a  beetle  to  at- 
tack an  eagle."  That  was  a  wise  saying,  and  if  we  may 
quote  Royal  authority  for  it,  there  are  a  good  many  people 
in  our  day  who  would  be  none  the  worse  for  listening  to 
that  savoury  comparison.  It  is  not  safe  yet  for  a  beetle 
to  attack  an  eagle.  Well,  then,  Erasmus  did  his  work  of 
translation  for  the  cultivated.  Then  there  was  wanted  one 
to  do  it  for  the  vulgar.  Who  was  to  do  that  ?  Why,  Tyn- 
dale  was  raised  up  of  God  just  at  the  proper  time,  and  he 
went  to  Oxford,  and  he  met  with  Wycliffe's  Bible  there, 
and  it  inspired  him  to  do  what  Wycliffe  had  done  for  the 
cultivated  on  behalf  of  the  common  people.  And  so  he 
printed  and  published  his  edition  of  the  Bible — what  he 
thought  a  very  incorrect  one  ;  and  Tunstal,  who  was  the 
Romish  bishop  at  that  time,  bought  up  every  copy  that 
he  could  find  of  Tyndale's  Bible.  "  Gentle  Mr.  Pakington," 
he  says  to  the  merchant,  "  do  your  diligence,  I  pray  you,  to 
get  them.  I  will  pay  you  whatsoever  they  cost  you.  The 
books  are  naughty  books,  and  I  intend  to  get  them  and 
burn  them  all  at  Paul's  Cross."  There  is  the  second  ex- 
periment of  burning,  you  see.  They  began  with  bones,  and 
then  they  went  on  to  books.     That  was  the  next  step. 

L 


146        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

There  was  the  burning  of  bones,  and  then  the  burning  of 
books.  That  is  the  comparative  degree.  Well,  Tyndale's 
reply  is  quaint,  almost  arch.  He  says,  "  I  shall  get  money 
of  him  for  these  books  to  bring  myself  out  of  debt,  and  the 
whole  world  shall  cry  out  at  the  burning  of  God's  Word, 
and  the  surplus  of  the  money  that  shall  remain  shall  make 
me  more  studious  to  correct,  and  newly  to  imprint  the 
same."  And  so,  out  of  the  burning  of  books,  just  as  the 
devil  and  all  his  emissaries  are  accustomed  to  outwit  them- 
selves in  their  craftiness,  there  came  the  new  and  corrected 
edition  of  God's  Holy  Word.  And  that  sort  of  thing  is 
continued  yet.  I  hold  in  my  hand  here  a  report  of  the 
Canadian  Bible  Society.  That  is  not  three  years  old,  and 
in  this  there  is  the  veritable  statement  that  one  of  the 
colporteurs  has  distributed  thirteen  copies  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  the  district  just  between  Lake  Huron  and  Lake 
Superior,  and  that,  by  the  connivance  or  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Romish  priests,  twelve  of  those  copies  were  publicly 
burnt — within  the  last  three  years  publicly  burnt.  And 
yet  there  is  a  change.  Everybody  is  getting  liberal,  and 
tolerant,  and  merciful  now-a-days,  and  they  did  not  believe 
in  the  burning  of  the  books.  But  it  is  continued  still  where 
there  is  a  chance  of  doing  it  without  an  outrage  upon  public 
feeling,  because  the  principles  of  the  hostility  are  the  same. 
Then,  you  know,  by-and-by  the  great  witness  himself  was 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  multitudes  were  burnt  with 
the  libel  or  little  book  round  their  necks,  and  suffered  for 
the  truth  of  God  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  there  came  the  superlative  degree — the  burning  of 
bones,  the  burning  of  books,  the  burning  of  men.  And  yet 
what  has  come  out  of  all  this  i  Why.  wherever  there  has 
been  a  determined  opposition,  wherever  the  forces  of  evil 
have  gathered  to  a  head,  and  concentrated  force  and  effort 
for  a  decisive  struggle,  God  has  brought  good  out  of  evil  ; 
just,  for  instance,  as  when  Rome  sent  forth  the  merciless 
Alva,  or  lit  the  fire  of  Lollard  martyrdoms,  or  whetted  her 
sword  for  a  St.  Bartholomew  massacre,  or  gilt  the  prows  of 
the  invincible  Armada.  What  was  the  result }  Only  to 
show  the  indestructibility  of  persecuted  truth,  for 

"  Truth  pressed  to  earth  will  rise  again — 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers  ; 
But  Error  wounded  writhes  with  pain, 
And  dies  amid  her  worshippers." 


THE   SILENCE    OF    THE   BIBLE.  147 

And  just  such  an  head  has  infidehty  made  when  she  mus- 
tered the  wits  and  sages  and  philosophers  of  the  ency- 
clopsedia  for  their  marvellous  and  pronounced  atheism. 
What  was  the  result  of  that  ?  Why,  to  rouse  Christian 
people  from  a  passive  holding  of  their  hope  to  a  determined 
purpose  to  spread  it  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth,  for 
we  must  never  forget  that  in  the  throes  of  that  great  revo- 
lution the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  Churches  were  born. 
Well  then,  in  a  few  years,  the  greatest  historic  attack — the 
most  subtle,  sinister,  acute  attack  upon  Christianity — came 
from  South  Africa.  How  did  God  manifest  His  power 
then?  Why  just  in  the  way  that  He  always  delights  to 
manifest  His  power — by  making  mercy  triumph  over  judg- 
ment. In  the  very  same  region,  in  the  very  diocese  from 
which  that  attack  came,  there  was  one  of  the  mightiest 
revivals  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion  that  has  ever  been 
known  in  this  world.  And  now  to-day,  in  the  midst  of  us, 
at  our  very  doors,  when  Herod  and  Pilate  are  made  friends, 
when  there  is  the  most  subtle  and  determined  opposition  to 
the  truth,  when  science,  falsely  so  called,  is  putting  on  all  its 
energies,  when  superstition  on  one  hand  and  infidelity  on 
the  other  are  setting  themselves  against  the  truth,  God  has 
shown  us  how  that  He  can  work  by  simple  men  coming  with 
a  directness  of  aim,  with  a  purpose  grand  in  its  simplicity, 
and,  above  all,  with  a  firm,  thorough,  hearty  belief — for  that 
is  the  secret  of  it — with  a  firm,  thorough,  hearty  belief  in 
God  and  Christ,  and  His  power  to  save  at  once.  God  is  wak- 
ing up  the  masses  of  hitherto  embalmed  life  in  this  metropolis 
of  ours  in  a  way  such  as  we  have  not  known  in  our  gene- 
ration. I  believe  that  God  is  a  match  for  His  enemies — 
that  He  is  always  on  the  alert,  and  that  His  providence  is 
neither  dead  nor  sleeping.  He  is  in  no  haste  to  vindicate 
Himself;  He  is  in  no  unseemly  hurry,  He  knows  the  end 
from  the  beginning,  and  He  can  wait  through  the  patient 
years,  assured  that  the  recompense  shall  come.  But  I  do 
feel  to-day  that  it  should  be  ours,  in  the  midst  of  all  this, 
to  give  ourselves  more  thoroughly  than  we  have  done  to 
earnest,  hearty,  Christian  work.  There  is  a  tendency,  I 
know,  to  leave  old  beliefs  behind,  and  press  to  some  im- 
agined beyond  of  truth  and  beauty  that  nobody  has  ever 
yet  tracked,  much  less  explored  ;  and  there  are  many 
quarters  in  which  it  is  not  scrupled  to  say  with  the  distin- 


148        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

guished  German  philosopher  that  the  desire  for  truth  is  a 
better  thing  than  the  possession  of  truth — a  brilhant  fal- 
lacy, but  a  fallacy,  notwithstanding  its  brilliancy.  And  it 
is  considered  a  proof  of  manliness — alas !  that  it  should  be 
so,  for  it  is  one  of  the  most  hopeless  signs  of  our  times — to 
have  outgrown  the  faith  of  our  childhood,  which,  after  all, 
is  the  sturdy  faith  upon  which  the  bold  manhood  of  our 
fathers  grew.  But  surely  it  were  a  weary  world  if  at  this 
time,  in  this  age,  nothing  were  settled.  Surely  life  is  of 
the  shortest  to  be  spent  in  dreams.  While  we  battle  out 
our  great  world  problems,  men  are  dying,  and  if  the  old 
faith  be  true — and  in  no  battle-field  has  it  ever  been 
worsted  yet — they  go  somewhere.  Yes,  and  we  are  dying, 
too  ;  and  are  we  to  have  no  fringe  upon  the  cloud  of  the 
sepulchre  ?  Are  we  to  pass  away,  as  we  must  do,  if  you 
take  from  us  our  Bible — to  pass  away  with  the  cheerless 
conviction  that  life  is  a  balance  of  chances,  and  that  death 
is  a  leap  in  the  dark,  and  all  this  when  the  light  awaits  our 
summons — all  this  when  we  may  be  at  any  moment  sum- 
moned into  a  glory  that  is  richer  than  golden — all  this 
when  Christ,  our  Surety  and  our  Saviour,  sits  unmoved  and 
expecting  upon  His  throne!  Oh,  I  know  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  impermanence  attaching  to  all  human  systems 
of  teaching.  I  know  that  the  test  of  inquiry,  and  the  test 
of  more  accurate  scholarship,  and  the  crucial  test  of  the 
last  assize,  may  sweep  away  some  of  the  inscriptions  of 
frivolity  and  vanity  that  men  have  carved  over  the  old 
truth  ;  but  the  truth  that  God  has  written  remains  upon  the 
face  of  the  rock  undefaced  and  permanent  for  ever.  "  The 
grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but  the  word  of  the 
Lord  endureth  for  ever."  I  pray  that  the  conscience  of  this 
large  assembly  may  be  bound  under  a  spell  from  which 
they  know  not  how  to  be  disenchanted,  and  from  under 
whose  power  they  shall  pass  to  their  eternity — that  each 
one  of  them  may  labour,  and  pray,  and  give  as  if  the  whole 
of  the  work  depended  upon  his  single  contribution,  at  the 
same  time  resting  implicitly  upon  the  blessing  of  God  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  if  he  knew — which,  indeed,  he  does  know — 
that  we  can  do  just  nothing  at  all,  and  that  it  is  only  God 
who  can  make  our  work  to  prosper. 


THE   MOTIVES    TO   BIBLE    CIRCULATION.         149 


III.     The  Motives  to  Bible  Circulation,     ^j- Rev. 
C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

I  BELIEVE  that  we  have  arrived  at  the  "good  old  times  " — 
the  times  were  never  so  old  as  they  are  now — and  I  very 
much  question  whether  they  were  ever  one-half  as  good  as 
they  are  now,  and  they  are  going  on  to  be  better,  thank 
God,  and  that,  I  trust,  by  very  great  "strides.  My  spirit 
would  be  indicated  by  a  little  story  which  occurred  to  me 
while  Mr.  Richardson  was  speaking,  as  happening  to  my- 
self some  three  years  ago.  Sitting  in  the  Colosseum  at 
Rome  with  two  or  three  friends,  I  said,  "  Is  it  not  glorious 
to  look  at  this  old  ruin  and  see  how  Christ  has  conquered 
here ;  how  all  these  ruins  tell  what  desolations  He  hath 
made  in  the  earth  ;  how  He  breaketh  the  bow  and  scat- 
tereth  the  spear  in  sunder  ?  "  So  I  said,  *'  Let  us  have  a 
tune,"  and  we  sang  the  verse — 

"Jesus'  tremendous  name 

Has  put  our  foes  to  flight ; 
Jesus,  the  meek,  the  humble  lamb,  ^ 

A  lion  is  in  fight." 

Up  came  two  strangers,  and  said,  "  What  is  that  you 
are  singing  ?  Let  us  join  you."  One  was  an  American, 
and  the  other  an  English  clergyman,  and  we  sang  together 
the  next  verse — 

"  By  all  hell's  hosts  withstood, 
We  all  hell's  host  o'erthrow  ; 
And  conquering  them  through  Jesus'  blood. 
We  still  to  conquer  go." 

And  so  we  shall  mark  our  track  by  the  ruin  of  our  adver- 
saries ;  they  shall  only  be  remembered  by  the  place  which 
they  once  inhabited,  which  shall  be  a  desolation  and  the  hab- 
itation of  the  bittern  for  ever  and  ever.  I  want  to  speak 
practically  now.  1  think  the  time  has  gone  for  defending 
the  Bible  against  anybody,  whoever  he  may  be ;  whether  he 
happens  to  be  a  bishop,  or  to  come  from  the  opposite  side, 
wherever  he  may  happen  to  come  from,  let  him  come  ! 
The  Bible  really  has  been  so  often  defended,  and  the 
defences  are  so  admirable,  that  I  must  look  upon  her  now 
as  the  other  day  I  did  upon  a  little  village  church  which  I 


ISO         PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

came  across  in  the  middle  of  a  wood — Oakwood  Chapel  in 
Surrey — a  church  subjected  to  a  great  many  changes  of  the 
weather  and  buttressed,  and  there  are  about  twice  as  many 
bricks  in  the  buttresses  as  there  are  in  the  church.  There 
seems  to  me  to  have  been  twice  as  much  done  in  some 
ages  in  defending  the  Bible  as  in  expounding  it,  but  if  the 
whole  of  our  strength  shall  henceforth  go  to  the  expound- 
ing of  it  and  spreading  it,  we  may  leave  it  pretty  well  to 
defend  itself  I  do  not  know  whether  you  see  that  lion — 
it  is  very  distinctly  before  my  eyes  ;  a  number  of  persons 
are  going  to  attack  it,  and  there  are  a  number  of  us 
who  would  defend  the  British  lion  with  all  our  strength. 
Many  suggestions  are  made  and  much  advice  offered. 
Will  you  open  the  door  and  let  the  lion  out  .''  He  will 
take  care  of  himself  Why,  they  are  gone  !  He  no  sooner 
goes  forth  than  away  they  fly.  The  way  to  meet  infidelity 
is  to  spread  the  Bible.  The  answer  to  every  objection 
against  the  Bible  is  the  Bible.  Meet  any  man  who  raises 
objections  against  it,  and  it  is  very  rare  that  you  will  find 
that  he  has  candidly  studied  it,  and  sought  to  understand 
it.  It  does  sometimes  occur,  but  even  in  his  case  I  think, 
if  he  would  read  it  again,  and  if  he  would  ask  the  Author, 
what  the  meaning  of  it  is,  and  the  Author  is  still  accessible, 
he  would  soon  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  ;  at  any 
rate,  I  shall  not  convince  him  much  by  argument.  You 
have  heard  the  story  of  the  good  clergyman  who  attended 
the  Bampton  Lectures — a  very  excellent  course  of  lectures, 
no  doubt — and  thanked  God,  after  hearing  them  all,  he  did 
remain  a  Christian.  .  After  reading  some  of  the  defences  of 
the  Bible,  it  really  is  a  grand  thing  to  find  oneself  a  Chris- 
tian at  all.  Spread  the  Bible  every  one  of  you,  and  spread 
the  Bible  for  this  reason — that,  first  of  all,  it  will  help  to 
keep  us  all  right — I  mean  the  different  ministers  here  be- 
longing to  different  Churches.  It  is  an  admirable  law 
which  forbids  the  adulteration  of  milk,  and  it  is  a  capital 
plan  to  keep  a  lactometer.  The  Bible  is  every  Christian's 
lactometer  ;  he  may  just  see  how  much  of  adulteration 
there  may  be  in  the  milk.  You  know  I  am  never  afraid  of 
the  Bible  myself  on  Baptist  grounds,  and  when  any  young 
person  comes  to  me  and  says:  "Can  you  recommend  a  little 
book  which  sets  forth  your  views  of  baptism  "i  "  I  always 
say,  '*  Yes,  there  is  a  little  book  which  you   may   buy  for 


THE   MOTIVES    TO   BIBLE    CIRCULATION.  151 

twopence — the  New  Testament — a  wonderful  Baptist  book" 
— in  fact,  I  never  give  them  any  other.  If  they  cannot  see 
it  there,  well,  then,  I  must  love  them  all  the  same,  if  they 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  all  of  us  try  to  spread  the 
Gospel  and  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  fully  and  freely  ;  but  we 
are  something  like  those  water-carriers  in  Venice  who  cry 
out,  "  Aqua  !  Aqua  !  " —  and  it  is  a  very  pleasant  sound.  I 
thought  once  I  would  have  a  little  water,  and  he  gave  me 
a  glassful  for  my  halfpenny.  Well,  it  tasted  of  the  glass  ; 
I  did  not  like  it.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  the  Gospel  that 
tastes  of  the  glass.  I  am  afraid  there  are  few  of  us  that 
hand  it  out  quite  pure.  What  a  grand  thing  it  is  that  the 
people  can  keep  a  fountain  at  home  to  which  they  can  go 
and  draw  for  themselves.  When  you  give  them  the  Bible 
there  is  no  necessity  for  their  getting  the  Episcopalian 
twang,  which  is  not  very  sweet  to  me,  nor  for  their  having 
the  Dissenting  twang,  which  is  not  very  sweet  to  other 
people  ;  they  can  just  go  and  draw  from  the  living  foun- 
tain itself  the  pure  Word  of  God  ;  therefore  spread  it,  for 
it  will  help  to  keep  us  all  right.  I  cannot  believe  it  of  my 
countrymen  that  after  all  they  will  go  sheer  over  to  Popery. 
I  do  see  very  hopeful  signs  among  those  who  have  got  to 
be  very  High  Church  indeed,  that  they  love  the  souls  of 
men  and  mean  to  preach  the  Gospel.  I  believe  that  is  be- 
cause the  Bible  is  open,  and  when  it  is  open,  men  may  go 
a  long  way  in  their  tag-rags  and  ribbons,  and  the  like,  but 
there  is  something  or  other  that  will  hold  them  to  the 
Gospel ;  there  is  a  centripetal  power  which  will  not  allow 
them,  after  all,  to  go  right  away  into  the  wild  dark  regions 
beyond,  which  are  said  to  be  under  the  dominion  of  his 
Holiness  the  Pope.  Spread  the  Bible,  dear  friends,  because 
that  will  bring  us  together.  If  anything  will  ever  unite  the 
entire  Church  of  God,  it  must  be  around  Holy  Scripture 
that  we  shall  unite, — certainly  never  anywhere  else.  I 
would  rather  say,  I  believe,  the  whole  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  is,  and  always  has  been,  one  in  the  sense  in  which 
our  Saviour  prayed  it  might  be  one ;  for  I  find  myself 
incapable  of  believing  that  the  petitions  which  we  have 
offered  to-night  were  unheard  of  God.  I  believe  there  is 
a  deep,  secret,  essential  vital  union  between  all  the  elect 
of  God  who  have  been  quickened  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  have  been  washed  in   a  "  fountain  filled   with 


152        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

blood."  I  think  we  keep  each  other  alive  a  bit,  and  wake 
each  other  up — not  always  in  the  right  spirit,  perhaps, 
ourselves,  but  yet  God  overrules  it  for  the  right  But  if 
any  man  shall  say  of  any  other  man  beneath  the  stars 
that  he  loves  Jesus  Christ,  and  denies  that  I  am  his 
brother,  he  lies  in  his  throat.  I  am  his  brother,  and  there 
is  my  right  hand.  If  I  be  one  with  Christ'^  it  is  no  credit 
to  me  to  say,  "  I  will  meet  him  on  the  platform  of  the 
Bible  Society."  Why,  I  cannot  help  it.  If  my  little  finger, 
because  it  is  more  properly  than  the  rest  of  the  body — I 
am  alluding  now  to  the  Baptists  who  are  just  that — if  my 
little  finger  were  to  say,  "  I  will  have  no  communion  with 
the  rest  of  the  body  " — well,  it  can  only  get  out  of  the  body 
by  death,  but  as  long  as  it  lives  in  the  body  it  must  really 
commune,  because  the  vitaLty  of  the  whole  body  neces- 
sarily causes  a  communion  between  all  the  members  of 
the  body.  It  must  be  so,  we  cannot  help  ourselves.  You 
shall  reach  down  from  your  shelves  a  book,  and  not  know 
who  wrote  it,  and  find  your  heart  warming  and  glowing 
towards  the  man  who  wrote  it,  and  when  you  look  at 
the  title-page  you  say,  **  There,  now!  I  believe  that  man 
spoke  at  the  Liberation  Society."  Or  else  on  the  other 
hand,  you  will  say,  "  That  is  the  man  that  said  those  tre- 
mendous things  there  in  favour  of  Church  and  State  at  the 
Church  Defence  Association."  Well,  my  dear  friends,  I 
think  there  is  room  enough  in  this  great  world,  and  plenty 
of  room  enough  in  a  land  of  liberty,  for  us  to  speak  our 
own  minds,  and  love  each  other  just  as  well  after  we  have 
done.  I  for  one  feel  sometimes  just  like  Robin  Hood,  who 
never  received  a  man  into  his  company  till  he  had  played 
him  at  quarter-staff.  It  is  a  little  exercise  sometimes  ;  be- 
sides, it  tries  the  joints  of  our  harness,  and  lets  us  know 
where  our  weak  points  may  be.  But  if  ever  we  are  to  meet 
— and  God  grant  we  may ! — that  in  the  movements  of 
Providence  Christians  may  come  more  closely  together,  it 
must  be  through  our  all  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
great  standard  of  truth,  which  is  the  Word  of  God.  Dear 
friends,  I  would  urge  very  especially  that  we  all  try  to  dis- 
tribute the  Scriptures  just  now,  because  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  persons  have  been  converted — there  can  be  no  doubt 
about  that — and  they  will  want  instruction,  and  no  instruc- 
tion will  suit  them  but  that  which  comes  from  the   Book. 


THE   MOTIVES    TO   BIBLE    CIRCULATION.  153 

I  feel  great  confidence  in  the  present  religious  movement, 
because,  you  will  notice,  the  Bible  is  to  the  front.  One  of 
the  marks  of  a  convert  now,  is,  that  he  or  she  is  carrying  a 
very  unwieldy  Bible  of  Bagster's  best  edition.  I  am  afraid 
it  will  happen  to  be  rather  like  a  phylactery,  if  you  do  not 
mind  ;  but  I  am  quite  satisfied  if  the  Bible  is  really  brought 
to  the  front.  The  teaching  given  is  Biblical  exposition,  and 
very  much  more  of  Scripture  is  given  in  those  addresses 
than  will  ordinarily  be  given  in  our  common  services.  Then 
the  spreading  of  the  Bible  may  avert  a  great  many  evils. 
The  danger  of  an  excited  time  of  revival  is,  of  course,  fan- 
aticism. I  like  a  white  heat  ;  I  am  rather  a  salamander. 
I  long  for  the  day  to  come  when  all  the  newspaper  press 
will  call  us  fanatics.  I  should  like  to  hear  them  hiss  be- 
tween their  teeth,  '*  You  are  fanatics  and  fools."  I  should 
think  we  were  getting  to  be  wise  then,  and  getting  some- 
thing near  the  point.  It  is  an  evil  day  for  us  when  men 
speak  too  well  of  us  ;  but^when  they  begin  to  talk  of  us 
disparagingly  it  may  be  that  then  we  are  having  honour  in 
the  sight  of  God.  There  is  no  fear,  however,  of  fanaticism 
ever  doing  mischief  if  we  keep  the  Bible  always  to  the 
front.  That  will  be  the  master  of  the  fire,  and  the  fire  will 
be  a  good  servant  to  us.  Above  all,  do  keep  your  Bibles 
multiplying  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Popery — that  must  be 
stopped.  You  perhaps  have  seen  upon  the  Arch  of  Titus 
in  Rome  the  seven-branched  candlestick.  We  are  told 
that,  after  the  triumph,  that  seven-branched  candlestick 
was  lost  in  the  Tiber.  The  Church  of  Rome  has  never 
had  that  seven-branched  candlestick  ;  she  has  lost  it. 
I  am  rather  glad  of  the  idea  of  purifying  that  muddy 
stream.  Perhaps  they  will  find  it  by-and-by.  I  should  not 
w^onder  that,  by  God's  blessing,  by  the  help  of  Garibaldi, 
they  may  find  out  several  little  things  that  they  have  lost. 
And  now  that  the  Bible  Society  has  a  place  in  the  Corso, 
the  way  to  find  out  the  true  seven-branched  golden  candle- 
stick which  is  to  illuminate  the  world  is  straight  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Romans.  We  have  got  the  lamp  ;  let  us 
carry  it.  Do  not  find  fault  with  the  darkness,  light  the 
candle.  Do  not  begin  to  complain  about  there  being  error 
in  the  world,  proclaim  the  truth.  And  by  what  means  can 
we  better  proclaim  it,  than  by  scattering  the  Word  of  God 
on  all  hands  ?     Dear  friends,  what  are  you  doing  towards 


154        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE   DISTRIBUTION. 

scattering  the  Bible  ?  Do  you  give  it  awa}^  ?  Somebody 
may  say  it  is  very  little  use  giving  away  Bibles  and  Tes- 
taments. That  is  a  very  great  mistake.  I  have  very 
seldom  found  it  to  be  a  lost  thing  to  give  a  present  of  a 
Testament.  I  was  greatly  astonished  about  a  month  ago. 
A  cabman  drove  me  home,  and  when  I  paid  him  his  fare, 
he  said,  "  A  long  time  since  I  drove  you  last,  sir  !  "  "  But," 
said  I,  "  I  do  not  recollect  you  !  "  **  Well,"  he  said,  "  I 
think  it  is  fourteen  years  ago  ;  "  but  he  says,  "  Perhaps  you 
will  know  this  Testament  ! "  pulling  one  out  of  his  pocket. 
"  What,"  I  said,  "did  I  give  you  that .?"  ''  Oh,  yes  !  "  he 
said,  "  and  you  spoke  to  me  about  my  soul,  and  nobody 
had  done  that  before,  and  I  have  never  forgotten  it." 
"What,"  said  I,  ''haven't  you  worrr  it  out?"  "No,"  he 
said,  *'  I  would  not  wear  it  out  ;  I  have  had  it  bound  !  " — 
and  he  had  kept  it  very  carefully  indeed.  It  encourages  one 
to  give  books  in  that  way.  Sometimes  people  won't  value 
a  tract.  I  believe  it  is  often  the  cheapest  thing  to  give 
a  better  thing  ;  that  which  costs  you  rather  more  will  be 
more  highly  treasured,  and — "  a  Testament  for  twopence  !" 
■ — who  would  not  scatter  such  a  thing  broadcast  }  And 
should  yon  be  unable  to  give  away  the  book  itself,  quote 
the  Scriptures  often.  A  colporteur  last  Monday  said  there 
was  a  man  in  the  habit  of  addressing  him  upon  religious 
subjects  when  he  was  half  seas  over,  as  they  call  it,  or 
something  of  that  kind.  Whenever  he  had  plenty  of  drink 
in  him  he  always  came  up  to  the  colporteur  to  talk  about 
religion.  He  said  "  He  came  and  knocked  at  my  door, 
and  I  felt  vexed  that  he  should  so  often  come  to  me  in 
that  condition,  and  I  hurled  four  texts  at  his  head  out  in 
the  street  with  all  my  might."  He  quoted  the  four  texts. 
They  were  very  appropriate  to  the  man's  condition,  and 
contained  a  full  statement  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  said  :  "  I  do  not  know  whether  I  did  that  man  any  good 
or  not,  but  there  was  a  woman  next  door,  who  just  opened 
her  door  to  put  two  dirty  children  off  her  doorstep.  She 
stood  still  and  heard  all  the  four  texts,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  carried  them  home  to  her  heart  and  conscience  ;"  and 
he  added,  "  I  have  been  awakened  at  night  many  times,  and 
glad  to  be  awakened,  by  hearing  her  sing,  whilst  she  lies 
dying  upstairs  in  the  room  next  to  mine."  I  wish  every 
person  here  who  knows  the  power  of  the  Scriptures  on  his 


THE   MOTIVES    TO   BIBLE    CIRCULATION.  155 


own  soul  would  incessantly  be  trying  to  spread  the  Word 
of  God  and  to  expound  it.     Never  associate  the  Bible  with 
anything  that  is  dull  and  unhappy  in  the  minds   of  your 
children.     I  think  one  of  the  wickedest  things  in  the  world 
is  to  make  a  child  learn  a  chapter  for  a  punishment.    Make 
the  Bible  a  sweet,  dear  book  to  your  children  ;   give  them 
plenty  of  pictures,  and  try  yourself  to  make  pictures  of  the 
Bible  by  your  conversation.     A  little  boy  once  was  at^his 
mother's  side,  and  she  was  reading  to  him.     "  Mother,"  he 
said,  •*  would  you  let  me  go  out  and  play  for  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  ?  "     "  What  for  James  .?  "  said  she.     "  Because  then 
you  will  please  read  that  book  to  yourself,  and  then,  when 
I  come  in  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  time,  I   will   listen  so 
nicely  if  you  will  tell  me  what  the  book  says."    That  is  the 
thing  ;  read  the  book  yourself,  and  get  the  meaning  of  it  *, 
then  talk  it  out  again  to  the  children  ;   they  will  receive  it 
so  much  the  better.     We  want  subscribers  to   the   Bible 
Society,  but  we  want  readers  of  the  Bible  and  expounders 
of  it,  so  that  even  the  little  ones  may  understand.     I  wish 
this  to  go  home  to  every  one  here.    There  is  a  something  for 
all  to  do.     I  believe  there  is  a  somebody  in  the  world  that 
God  means  to  bless  through  you  and  nobody  else.     He  has 
given  to  His  dear  Son  power  over  all  flesh  that  He  should 
give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  His  Father  gave  Him,  and 
I  think  He  has  divided  that  power  out  among  us,  and  given 
to  some  of  us  powers  over  certain  flesh,  and  others   power 
over  others.     There  are  some  who  never  will  enter  heaven 
through  my  preaching,  but  they  will  enter  heaven  perhaps 
from  your  private  admonitions,  or  through  the_  little  New 
Testament  which  you  intend  now  to  put  in  their  way,  and 
the  gentle  word  which  you   mean   to  add  to  it.     Beloved 
friends,  look  at  the  great  city  that  is  now  before  you,  which 
God  is  visiting.     Now  that  we  are  speaking  about  the  Bible, 
assist  in  the  visitation  of  this  city,  house  to   house,    all  of 
you,  and  connect  with  it  the  trying  to  discover  whether  the 
Bible  is  in  the  house,  and  if  it  be  not  there,  let  every  house 
in  London  be  supplied  with  the   Bible.     I  wish  the  Bible 
Society  would  join,  if  it  could,  with  that  organization,  and 
determine  that  every  house  in  London  should  have  a  Bible 
at  once.     Let  us  all  help  in  doing  the  work  of  visiting  and 
scattering  the  Word  of  God,  and  let  this  be  your  motive  : 
if  we  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  is  an  intimate  con- 


156        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

nectlon  between  us  and  everything-  that  has  to  do  with 
Him.  Years  ago,  when  servants  used  to  be  servants,  there 
was  a  certain  lord  who  was  greatly  amused  with  the  way 
in  which  his  old  body  servant  always  used  to  talk.  They 
were  down  in  the  country,  and  there  was  a  wagon  stand- 
ing at  the  door  of  the  country  seat,  and  his  lordship  said, 
"John,  whose  wagon  is  that?"  "Oh,"  says  he,  "  that  is 
ours,  my  lord  ;  it  has  brought  seme  of  our  goods  down 
from  town."  In  a  minute  or  two  he  said,  "John,  what 
coach  is  that  coming  up  the  drive  1 "  "  Well,  my  lord,"  he 
says,  "  don't  you  know — that's  our  carriage."  "  But,"  he 
said,  "  I  see  some  children  in  it  ;  are  they  otir  children, 
John  } "  "  Oh,  yes,  my  lord,"  he  says,  '*  bless  their  hearts, 
they  are  our  children,  and  I  am  going  downstairs  to  bring 
them  in,"  and  he  went  downstairs  to  bring  them  in.  Now 
whenever  we  look  upon  poor,  lost  sinners,  and  look  upon 
any  whom  Jesus  Christ  would  look  upon  with  love,  let  us 
say,  "  Oh,  blessed  Lord,  these  are  our  children,  these  are 
ours  ;  we  seek  them  because  they  belong  to  Thee."  It 
looks  rather  daring  to  call  what  is  Christ's  ours,  but  his 
lordship  was  not  vexed  with  his  servant  for  entering  into 
such  a  unity  of  interests  with  him,  and  our  Lord  above  will 
not  be  aggrieved  with  us  if  we  call  this  Society  our  Bible 
Society  ;  and  as  we  call  the  Bible  our  Bible,  we  will  try  to 
spread  it  amongst  our  poor  citizens  all  around  us,  in  whom 
we  have  an  interest,  because  Christ  has  an  interest  in 
them. 

IV.     The  Perils  of  the  Age.     j^j- The  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop  Tait. 

Some  think  that  the  Christian  Church  throughout  the 
world  is  at  this  time  approaching  a  great  crisis.  I  do  not 
know  that  we  are  approaching  one  of  those  sudden  revolu- 
tions which  often  come  on  persons  when  they  least  expect 
them,  and  produce  great  and  vast  outward  changes  ;  but 
there  are  revolutions  and  changes  in  the  social  condition 
of  mankind,  and  in  the  civilized  world,  which  often  come 
very  silently,  and  look,  when  they  are  accomplished,  more 
complete  than  even  the  changes  which  come  by  great 
revolutions.  And  comparing  the  statements  now  with 
what  I  remember  a  few  years  ago,  I   cannot  help  think- 


THE   PERILS    OF    THE   AGE.  157 

ing  that  the  great  cause  which  this  Society  has  in  hand 
has  difficulties  to  contend  with  now  which  were  not  known 
then.  No  doubt,  our  fathers  were  exposed  to  perils  quite 
as  great  as  any  which  threaten  society  now  ;  but  in  the 
years  which  passed  during  my  youth,  things  had  become 
quieter.  The  great  French  revolution  of  the  last  century 
had  apparently  cleared  the  air,  and  men  were  settling  down 
quietly  to  the  old  beliefs  and  the  old  state  of  things.  Again, 
the  symptoms  of  great  changes  among  the  nations  are  to 
be  heard  and  seen.  Again,  new  modes  of  thought  are 
making  themselves  felt  amongst  intelligent  men  ;  and  no 
one  who  looks  carefully  at  the  present  state  of  public 
opinion  can  doubt  that  a  more  determined  set  is  now  made 
against  the  simple  belief  in  the  power  of  the  Word  of  God 
than  we  remember  forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  Therefore,  I 
say,  this  is  a  time  for  all  men  who  love  the  Word  of  God 
to  cast  aside — as  far  as  they  may,  without  a  compromise 
of  principle — the  differences  that  keep  them  asunder,  and 
to  rally  together  for  the  defence  of  the  Christian  faith, 
which,  thank  God,  we  all  rejoice  in,  and  that  Word  of  God 
on  which  the  doctrines  of  that  Christian  faith  are  built — to 
know  as  few  distinctions  as  possible  between  those  who 
serve  one  common  Lord,  and  take  the  Word  of  that  com- 
mon Lord  as  the  rule  of  life — as  the  charter  of  their  hopes 
for  eternity.  Therefore,  I,  for  my  part,  think  it  wise  that 
we  should  in  these  anxious  days,  as  much  as  possible,  join 
hand  in  hand;  and  no  cause  so  completely  and  so  naturally 
unites  us,  and  forbids  any  sacrifice  of  principle,  while,  at 
the  same  time,  it  calls  us  to  the  other  points  on  which  we 
agree,  as  that  cause  to  which  the  Bible  Society  has  been  so 
successfully  devoted  during  these  many  years.  I  say  that 
there  are  great  dangers  with  reference  to  the  reverence 
which  we  all  desire  to  pay  to  the  Word  of  God.  Great — I 
will  not  call  them  insidious,  for  they  are  very  open — great 
efforts  are  made  to  persuade  the  rising  generation  that  we 
have  all,  for  these  many  centuries,  been  under  a  mistake  in 
believing  that  the  Word  of  God  is  what  we  believe  it  to  be. 
Great  attempts  are  made  ;  a  circulation — not,  thank  God, 
equal  to  that  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  of  which  you 
have  heard  in  this  report  ;  but,  still,  great  and  well  organ- 
ized— of  books,  the  object  of  which  is  to  shake  our  faith  in 
the  Scriptures,  is  going  on,  not  only  in  this  metropolis,  and 


158        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

throughout  all  the  great  towns  of  this  kingdom,  but  in  our 
rural  districts  also.  And  not  in  this  kingdom  only,  but 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe  ;  and  if  we  are  wise  we 
shall  not,  by  any  unnecessary  divisions  amongst  ourselves, 
play  the  game  of  our  common  adversaries,  and  expose  that 
great  Word,  and  that  Christian  religion  with  which  we  are 
put  in  trust,  to  the  assaults  of  our  enemies  while  we  are 
quarrelling  amongst  ourselves.  This  Society  has  always 
appeared  to  me  to  recommend  itself  to  the  good  sense  of 
Englishmen  by  many  qualities — by  none  more  than  by  the 
simplicity  of  the  work  which  it  takes  in  hand.  All  Chris- 
tians, nominally  at  least,  allow  that  the  canon  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  contains  the  Word  of  God.  All 
Christians,  however  they  may  practically  neglect  it,  theo- 
retically bow  to  this  Word  of  God  ;  and,  therefore,  by 
undertaking  that  work  which  all  Christians,  if  they  are 
worthy  of  the  name,  must  allow  to  be  the  work  of  our 
heavenly  Master,  we  cast  aside  points  of  difference,  and 
practically — not  merely  in  theory,  but  practically — find  that 
we  can  act  together;  and  this  is  a  great  recommendation 
of  the  efforts  of  this  Society  to  all  common-sense  and  prac- 
tical Englishmen.  The  very  fact  of  our  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  appears  to  me  to  show  that  we  have  adopted 
a  wise  course  in  answer  to  the  cavils  of  those  who  would 
shake  our  reverence  for  the  Sacred  Volume.  But  we  are 
exposed  not  only  to  the  arguments  of  infidel  writers.  We 
are  exposed  to  attempts  to  secularise  the  whole  system  of 
our  education,  and  the  whole  system  of  our  government,  in 
this  land  ;  and  our  answer  to  all  such  attempts  is  this  :  — 
Remembering  that  the  word  secular  speaks  of  the  world 
and  things  worldly,  that  the  very  name  means  a  worldly 
system,  and  that  the  system  which  we  desire  to  inculcate 
is  a  spiritual  and  religious  system,  we  say  we  shall  best 
meet  the  attempts  of  secularists  by  placing  in  the  hands  of 
all  who  can  read  this  great  charter  of  our  spiritual  rights, 
and  enabling  men  to  understand  that  it  is  not  for  a  short 
life  in  this  world,  but  for  an  eternal  life  in  the  land  of 
spirits,  that  the  human  soul  has  to  be  prepared  by  educa- 
tion ;  and  that  the  affairs  of  this  world  can  only  be  well 
conducted  if  there  is  a  distinct  reference  to  higher  sections 
than  secular,  and  to  higher  truths  than  any  which  secular 
knowledge  can  convey.     I  think,  then,  that  we  do  adopt  a 


FITNESS  OF  SCRIPTURE  FOR  DESIGNED  END.    159 

wise  course  as  to  both  speculative  and  practical  attempts  to 
shake  our  reHgion  by  circulating  as  widely  and  freely  as 
possible  the  Scriptures  of  truth.  I,  for  my  part,  believe 
that  the  civilization  of  Europe  rests  upon  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. I  believe  that  during  these  past  centuries  it  has  been 
the  perpetual  appeal  to  the  truths  which  these  Scriptures 
include  that  has  made  the  nations  of  Europe  different  from 
the  degraded  races  of  mere  savage  countries,  or  from  those 
old,  worn-out  barbarian  nations,  who,  never  having  been 
blessed  with  these  Holy  Scriptures  as  their  charter,  have 
been  obliged  to  turn  to  mere  human  books  as  their  au- 
thority, and  that  authority  has  failed  them. 

V.    The    Fitness  of   Holy  Scripture    for   its    De- 
signed End.     By  Bishop  Boyd  Carpenter. 

It  was  of  the  first  importance  to  remember  that  the 
judgment  which  they  passed  upon  any  work  must  be 
measured,  not  by  what  they  expected  it  ought  to  con- 
tain, but  by  what  means  and  in  what  degree  it  attained 
the  ends  for  which  it  existed  ;  and  in  measuring,  therefore, 
the  fitness  of  Scripture,  they  were  not  to  look  for  any 
results  which  it  did  not  proclaim  as  its  intention  and 
design.  To  look  for  any  elaborate  opinion,  for  any  ex- 
haustiveness  of  treatment,  even  of  those  subjects  which  it 
took  up  and  dealt  with,  was  to  look  for  that  which  God 
had  not  intended  it  to  convey.  The  Apostle  reminded  the 
readers  of  Holy  Scripture  of  that  fact  when  he  pictured 
the  state  on  earth  as  one  in  which  the  knowledge  of 
persons  was  on  all  points  an  imperfect  knowledge.  The 
Apostle  said,  "  We  know  now  in  part ; "  and  as  if  to  give 
the  assurance  that  he  did  not  mean  those  words  to  apply 
merely  to  the  limitation  of  scientific  knowledge,  but  that 
it  was  also  intended  to  refer  to  sacred  subjects,  and  that 
even  there  some  limitation  was  to  be  expected,  he  added, 
"  We  also  prophesy  in  part."  And  the  Apostle  continued, 
that  "  We  shall  be  seen  then  as  we  are  seen,  and  known  as 
we  are  known."  To  impress  that  upon  the  minds  of  the 
audience,  it  was  only  necessary  to  add,  what  no  doubt  they 
would  be  led  to  adopt  upon  reflection,  that  they  did  not 
expect,  when  they  heard  of  a  man  who  was  perfect  as  a 
painter,   that   he    also    possessed    the    qualifications    of  a 


i6o        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

physician  ;  they  did  not  expect  that  a  man  whom  they 
consulted  about  their  bodily  ailments  could  also  write  a 
good  essay  or  compose  a  fine  poem.  Exactly  the  same 
measure  and  principle  ought  to  be  adopted  in  dealing  with 
Holy  Scripture.  He  would  ask  what  God  really  intended 
when  He  gave  His  people  the  Bible — its  purpose  must  be 
understood  in  order  that  its  fitness  might  be  appreciated. 
Its  purpose  was  clearly  defined  in  many  parts  of  the  book 
itself  to  be  the  moral  elevation  and  the  spiritual  restora- 
tion of  mankind.  And  if,  then,  that  construction  was  so 
given  unto  the  world,  then  they  were  at  liberty  to  examine 
it  upon  the  grounds  of  its  own  claims.  If  any  individual 
contemplated  the  works  of  God  in  a  captious  spirit,  he 
might  make  numberless  objections.  The  Word  of  God 
claimed  to  convert  the  heart ;  it  claimed  to  enlighten  the 
eyes  ;  it  came  to  rejoice  the  soul  of  man.  Besides  having 
a  clear  view  of  what  the  object  of  Holy  Scripture  was, 
they  should  have  some  knowledge  of  the  object  itself. 
The  rev.  speaker  then  supposed  that  a  person  was  present 
at  a  surgical  operation,  and  was  desirous  of  seeing  how 
the  operation  began  ;  to  the  mind  of  the  witness  the  sur- 
geon dealt  very  roughly,  and  hacked  in  directions  which 
he  thought  unnecessary ;  but  the  surgeon  would  answer 
that  the  operation  was  not  understood  by  the  person  who 
was  present.  And  so  with  the  Word  of  God  ;  there  were 
difficulties  about  it  which  were  perplexing,  and  those  who 
doubted  should  ask  themselves  whether  they  understood 
the  disease  with  which  the  Scriptures  were  intended  to 
deal.  The  rev.  speaker  often  thought  that  there  was  a 
wonderful  harmony  between  the  growth  of  knowledge  on 
one  side,  and  the  growth  of  religious  feeling  on  the  other ; 
and  that  that  harmony  was  not  without  a  purpose — that 
the  Almighty  had  so  arranged  the  economy  of  history, 
that  often  great  discoveries  fitted  in  at  a  fitting  moment 
for  the  advancement  of  spiritual  or  moral  truth.  His 
hearers  might  hear  more  and  more  of  the  scientific  difficul- 
ties without  being  disturbed,  if  they  could  say  that  as  for 
God  His  work  was  perfect,  and  as  His  work  was  perfect, 
so  they  were  content  to  measure  Scripture  by  the  end  for 
which  it  had  been  sent — the  regeneration  of  the  heart. 
They  saw  that  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  the  Word 
of  God   was  controlling  sin,  and  they  saw  its  power  for 


THE   BIBLE   ON   THE   CONTINENT.  16 1 

good,  and  the  high  work  it  was  carrying  out,  for  there 
could  be  no  higher  evidence  of  that  given  than  that  it  was 
fitted  by  God  for  a  great  and  glorious  end,  for  a  great 
elevation  of  the  hearts  and  minds  of  those  who  were  under 
its  direction. 

VI.     The    Bible  on   the    Continent.     By  The  Dean 
OF  Chester. 

I  EARNESTLY  advocate  the  claims  of  this  Society  on  the 
ground  that  it  provides  the  help  which  is  essential  for  all 
other  religious  agencies  without  hindering  any  one  of 
them.  We  find  it  essential  in  all  our  efforts  in  doing 
relifjious  o^ood  to  use  the  Bible — at  all  events,  we  should 
make  very  sorry  work  of  it  if  we  made  the  attempt  with- 
out that  Book.  Now,  this  Society  does  precisely  this,  it 
gives  to  us  a  Bible  in  whatever  form  we  may  find  it  most 
useful.  It  aids  every  other  Society  which  labours  for  the 
spiritual  good  of  mankind.  For  instance,  the  missionary 
operations  of  the  Church  of  England  could  not  be  carried 
on  without  the  assistance  which  comes  from  this  source. 
In  this  country  itself,  of  the  five  languages  which  are 
spoken  within  our  islands,  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  to  be 
obtained  in  three  of  those  languages  only  from  this  Society. 
And  if  we  turn  to  foreign  missions,  I  believe  nearly  twenty 
of  those  translations  which  the  committee  of  the  Church 
of  England  Missionary  Societies  employ  would  not  be 
found  at  all  unless  it  were  for  the  efforts  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society.  Hence  it  is  a  most  obvious  act  of 
justice,  as  well  as  of  gratitude,  that  a  Church  of  England 
clergyman  should  stand  here  to  urge  the  claims  of  this 
Society  on  the  generous  support  of  the  whole  community. 
Another  consideration  which  has  weighed  very  much  with 
me  is  this,  that  the  work  done  by  this  Society  supplies, 
we  might  almost  say,  the  whole  of  Christendom  with  the 
means  of  correcting  religious  error  when  that  error  arises. 
I  am  not  at  this  moment  alluding  to  any  special  errors 
which  surround  us.  I  am  alluding  to  the  fact  that  error 
is  sure  to  arise.  The  Christian  religion  in  contact  with 
human  nature — and  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Christian  religion  in  any  other  connection — is  sure  to  be 
Hable   to  corruption   and  distortion.     It  i-s  of  the  utmost 

M 


i62         PLATFORM   AIDS— BIBLE   DISTRIBUTION. 

importance  that  we  should  have  at  all  times  within  our 
reach  the  means  of  purifying-  such  corruption  and  correct- 
ing such  distortion,  and  this  is  precisely  what  is  done  for 
us  through  the  parental  precepts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
I  know  it  may  be  said,  in  answer  to  this  argument,  that 
even  in  the  direct  study  of  the  Scriptures,  we  are  all  liable 
to  make  mistakes.  No  one  denies  this,  but  unless  we  do 
directly  study  the  Bible,  we  are  sure  to  make  mistakes. 
Thus,  on  the  ground  that  this  Society  puts  within  our 
reach  the  Holy  Scriptures  for  the  direct  study  of  all  men, 
we  are  bound  to  do  all  that  we  can  to  promote  its  interests 
by  our  prayers,  our  exertions,  and  our  contributions. 
Another  argument  is  this — that  in  our  English  Bibles  we 
have  a  most  precious  bond  of  union  amongst  us  here  in 
England.  It  is  quite  true  that  we  are  sadly  divided,  but 
we  have  in  the  English  version  of  the  Scriptures  a  bond 
of  union,  the  value  of  which  can  only  be  understood  by 
reflecting  upon  what  the  state  of  things  would  be  in  this 
country  if  every  religious  community  owed  allegiance  to 
separate  versions  of  the  sacred  volume.  It  is  often  said 
that  on  the  platform  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  compliments  are  paid  one  to  another  with  regard 
to  our  religious  harmony  and  unity,  and  as  soon  as  the 
meeting  is  over  those  very  pt-rsons  proceed  to  take  part 
in  bitter  and  acrimonious  controversy.  I  dare  say  this  is 
very  true,  but  I  imagine  the  remedy  for  such  an  evil  is 
not  to  be  found  in  diminution  of  our  common  interest 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  in  an  increase  of  that  common 
interest.  In  fact  the  cure  is  to  be  found  in  coming  back 
again  to  the  platform  of  this  society.  We  must  not  for- 
get that  it  is  also  a  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  permit 
me,  in  using  this  word  "  foreign,"  to  carry  your  thoughts 
across  the  streak  of  silver  sea  to  the  continent  of  Europe. 
It  has  been  my  fortune  to  be  brought  somewhat  closely 
in  contact  with  the  Old  Catholic  movement,  not  only  in 
Germany,  but  in  other  places,  and  I  could  furnish  you 
with  illustrations  of  the  increased  importance  which  the 
Scriptures  are  assuming  on  the  Continent  in  consequence 
of  tliis  movement.  It  has  many  sides,  each  one  very  in- 
teresting and  deserving  careful  study.  But  the  one  fact 
that  comes  pre-eminently  before  the  view  is  that  there  is 
an  increasing  sense  of  the  necessity  for  the  Bible,  and 


THE  BIBLE    ON   THE   CONTINENT.  163 

of  the  great  harm  which  results  from  secluding  it  from 
the  common  people.  The  words  in  the  report  with  regard 
to  Italy  were  somewhat  discouraging,  but  allow  me  to 
say  the  great  political  changes  in  that  country  have  in- 
dicated a  very  Protestant  character  in  the  Italian  mind, 
and  I  am  very  much  inclined  to  believe  that  these  will 
end,  under  God's  blessing,  by  producing  similar  results 
with  regard  to  religion,  though  not  at  present.  Pre- 
liminary movements  have  been  going  on  for  many  years. 
I  was  present  at  a  very  remarkable  meeting  in  a  cathe- 
dral city  of  Northern  Italy,  with  about  a  dozen  Roman 
Catholic  priests  more  or  less  interested  in  the  question 
of  Church  Reform,  and  priests  with  whom  I  had  the 
great  happiness  of  joining  in  prayer.  We  all  knelt  down 
and  used  an  Italian  version  of  one  of  those  prayers 
for  unity  contained  in  our  Prayer-book.  One  of  those 
men  spoke  to  me  privately  of  one  great  distress  which 
weighed  upon  his  mind.  He  was  a  most  energetic  young 
man,  and  a  professor  in  the  Ecclesiastical  seminary.  He 
expressed  his  great  grief  that  the  training  in  the  seminary 
was  casuistical  and  not  biblical.  What  he  craved  for  was 
a  training  for  the  young  priests  in  the  Bible,  but  he  said, 
"  If  I  say  this  to  my  colleagues,  not  one  of  them  agree 
with  me.  I  am  a  marked  and  a  ruined  man."  In  another 
cathedral  city  in  the  northern  part  of  Italy,  a  priest  ex- 
pressed his  earnest  desire  to  have  a  Bible  suitably  edited 
for  circulation  in  his  parish,  and  he  begged  us  to  use  our 
best  efforts  to  provide  it.  These,  I  think,  are  hopeful 
signs.  I  turn  now  to  a  different  side  of  the  subject, 
though  it  is  one  which  also  has  been  touched  by  the 
Bishop  of  Ripon.  An  Italian  statesman  came  to  this 
country  to  examine  our  system  of  education,  his  attention 
being  specially  directed  to  the  education  of  the  middle 
and  upper  classes.  When  his  report  was  presented  in 
Italy,  he  called  attention  to  this  remarkable  fact,  that 
wherever  he  went  among  those  middle  class  and  higher 
class  schools,  he  saw  the  Bible.  I  dare  say  he  did  not 
fully  enter  into  all  that  we  are  thankful  to  see  in  the  pages 
of  the  Bible,  but  he  used  language  of  this  kind  about  this 
Book,  which  he  spoke  of  as  though  it  were  a  startling  and 
delightful  novelty  to  him.  I  do  most  earnestly  join  with 
what  has  been  said,  and   I  do  implore  all  those  who   have 


i64        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE   DISTRIBUTION. 

any  doubts  upon  this  subject  to  think  once,  twice,  and 
many  times  more,  before  they  do  anything  which  tends  to 
dissociate  the  close  connection  of  the  Bible  with  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  in  this  country. 


VII.     Christian  Union,     ^j^  Bishop  Boyd  Carpenter. 

It  was  a  satisfaction  to  find  that  the  operations  of  this  and 
kindred  societies  were  making  real  progress  amongst  the 
great  Latin  races,  and  all  the  more  so,  because  something 
like  a  taunt  had  been  flung  out  by  an  eminent  historian, 
that  Protestantism  could  never  take  anything  like  deep 
root  in  the  Latin  mind.  In  the  report  a  denial  is  given  to 
that  proposition  ;  and  the  auspices  to  be  drawn  from  the 
past  promise  progress  for  the  future.  A  gladness  would 
cross  their  minds  when  they  turned  to  these  western  sides 
of  the  Latin  race,  and  took  their  stand  where  the  atmo- 
sphere teems  with  recollections  of  the  grand  and  inspiring 
heroes  of  the  past.  The  shade  of  Dante  seemed  to  ac- 
company them  amidst  all  the  splendid  palaces,  and  they 
remembered  the  spot  where  Michael  Angelo  conceived  his 
splendid  thoughts,  to  leave  them  for  a  legacy  to  humanity. 
They  were  told  the  spirit  of  the  Italian  mind  was  oscillat- 
ing painfully  away  from  the  dark  superstitions  under  which 
it  has  long  groaned,  and  that  the  natural  rebound  will  be 
the  dreary  waste  of  doubt  and  infidelity  ;  but  there  are 
other  symptoms  to  be  noticed,  and  one  is  that  this  Society 
is  going  forward,  and  giving  out  clear,  simple.  Divine 
declarations  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ,  and  the  influence 
is  beginning  to  spread.  He  was  glad  that,  in  the  method 
adopted  by  their  Society,  they  were  not  content  to  give 
merely  religious  tracts,  but  were  determined  to  call  the 
attention  of  those  to  whom  they  came  to  the  great  facts  of 
history.  He  felt  assured  that  an  inducement  to  the  study 
of  God's  Word  was  to  be  found  in  spreading  abroad  clear 
and  definite  knowledge  of  historical  facts.  In  the  report 
they  would  see  that  amongst  those  most  anxious  to 
maintain  the  cause  of  truth,  there  is  a  great  desire  that  all 
Christian  people  should  be  united  together  and  organized 
against  that  splendid  organization  whose  very  power  of 
confederacy  was  one  of  their  greatest  obstacles.     He  often 


THE   BIBLE   AND    THE   PRIEST  165 

thought  of  a  story  he  had  heard  told  by  one  whose  name 
should  be  mentioned  with  reverence,  the  Rev.  Hugh 
McNeile.  He  was  landed  on  the  Kingstown  Pier,  six 
miles  from  Dublin,  where  he  wanted  to  go.  A  large 
number  of  cab-drivers  gathered  round  him,  all  contending 
for  the  honour  of  carrying  his  lordship  (as  they  called  him) 
to  Dublin.  He  was  attracted  to  one  rude  vehicle,  because 
the  driver  said  it  was  drawn  by  a  poetical  horse ;  but  he 
found  the  animal  the  sorriest  jade  he  ever  met  with.  At 
length  he  was  landed  in  the  dirtiest  capital  in  Europe,  and 
he  asked  the  man  why  he  called  his  horse  a  poetical  horse. 
"  Well,  your  lordship,"  said  the  man,  "  I  will  tell  you  now 
you  are  landed.  It  is  just  because  his  perfections  are 
more  in  imagination  than  in  reality."  And  though  they 
cannot  boast  such  a  magnificent  appearance  of  union  in 
the  Protestant  Church  as  can  be  found  in  the  splendid 
organization  of  Rome,  they  might  perhaps  doubt  whether 
what  is  boasted  of  has  not  more  virtue  in  imagination  than 
in  reality.  They  claimed  that  which  would  make  them 
true  to  one  another.  Men  will  be  drawn  together  by  the 
bands  of  brotherhood,  which  distance  of  time  and  space 
can  never  dissolve  or  annul.  The  peace  of  righteousness 
was  that  which  they  prayed  for,  for  the  help  of  the  people 
to  whom  they  sent  the  Gospel  of  God. 


VIII.     The    Bible    and   the    Priest.      By   Rev.    W. 

Arthur. 

There  Is  a  saying  that  "  of  making  books  there  is  no  end." 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  very  certain  that  of  making  books 
there  was  a  beginning.  We  do  not  exactly  know  when  the 
beginning  occurred,  or  where,  but  we  have  no  reason  what- 
ever to  believe  that  the  first  beginning  of  making  books 
was  away  somewhere  about  the  roots  of  Mount  Sinai. 
Very  probably  upon  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  Euphrates 
or  those  of  the  Nile,  or  on  other  more  fertile  places  there 
had  sprung  up  books  before  that  time.  But  there  came  a 
root  out  of  a  dry  ground,  a  book  beginning  in  the  desert, 
written  by  one  who  had  the  double  disadvantage  of  being 
under  the  training  of  heathen  priests  full  of  false  doctrines, 
and  having  only  to  address  a  community  of  ex-slaves  who 


1 66        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE  DISTRIBUTION. 

had  never  been  organized  to  the  habits  or  illuminated  with 
the  ideas  of  freed  men.  I  do  not  know  what  other  doc- 
trine than  that  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  will  enable  us 
to  account  for  the  fact,  that  while  all  other  attempts  to 
begin  books  in  those  ancient  times,  telling  of  such  things 
as  the  creation,  the  first  being,  the  first  act,  and  so  on, 
have  passed  away,  the  Bible  still  remains.  I  challenge  its 
enemies  to  say  whether  there  is  in  the  world  one  power  to 
be  compared  with  that  of  the  Bible.  Twenty  years  ago, 
you  thought  that  in  twenty  years  from  that  time,  the 
fact  which  they  had  always  been  proclaiming,  that  the  day 
of  the  Bible  was  beginning  to  go  down,  would  become 
apparent  to  the  most  purblind.  Very  well,  the  twenty 
years  are  passed  ;  is  its  circulation  more  restricted  }  Are 
its  doctrines  more  discredited  t  Are  its  morals  less  sound  ? 
Are  its  prospects  less  bright.'*  Are  there  fewer  of  the 
nations  that  are  valuing  it  or  not }  The  fact  is  I  do  not 
know  that  its  enemies  can  point  to  any  part  of  the  world 
where  the  Bible  is  thought  to  be  declining,  except  that  the 
Romanists  say  that  they  are  sure  to  triumph  in  England 
presently.  They  are  not  saying  that  of  any  other  country. 
They  admit  that  in  Asia,  in  Africa,  and  upon  the  continent 
of  Europe,  Bible  ideas  and  institutions  are  making  way 
against  all  their  power.  They  say  that  here  it  is  not  so, 
and  that  here  they  have  a  clear  prospect  of  winning  us 
back  and  locking  us  all  up  again  within  that  wonderful 
enclosure  where  there  shall  be  a  Bible — but  where  }  Not 
in  the  pulpit,  not  in  the  school,  not  on  the  family  table,  not 
in  every  man's  closet,  not  in  every  child's  hand  ;  but  it 
shall  be  in  the  keeping  of  the  confessor,  and  with  the 
accredited  notes  of  the  church.  Take  the  case  of  Von 
Schulte,  hear  his  testimony— that  in  all  his  schooling  he 
never  had  a  Bible  lesson.  Had  he  not  a  religious  lesson  ? 
was  he  not  religiously  educated,  and  was  not  the  first 
postulate  of  religious  education  in  the  hands  that  had 
to  handle  him — the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  }  The  design 
of  the  Vatican  is  to  substitute  the  word  "  relicrious  "  for 
"  Scriptural,"  to  exclude  the  Bible  and  exalt  the  priests. 
Now,  I  say,  never  surrender  the  old  English  word,  the 
Bible — the  Bible  and  teaching  out  of  the  Bible,  and  no 
priest,  no  pope  above  us  ; — the  Bible  and  the  Queen  !  no 
other  power  to  be  acknowledged.     Alluding  to  the  efforts 


THE   BIBLE   AND    THE   PRIEST.  167 

of  this  Society  in  the  various  spheres  of  labour,  one  feels  it 
very  hard  to  say  where  we  have  most  to  encourage  and 
most  to  stimulate.  I  do  not  at  all  feel  discouraged  by  the 
gloomy  statement  of  the  Report  about  Italy.  It  is  per- 
fectly true  that  as  yet  the  number  of  truly  godly  men  in 
Italy  is  very  small  ;  but  it  is  equally  true,  considering  the 
time  and  the  agency,  it  is,  I  believe,  as  great  as  you  can 
find  on  record  in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Let  us 
not  be  discouraged  there.  Bible  meetings  have  been  held 
in  Rome,  and  Bibles  are  sold  in  Rome,  and  the  Bible  is 
being  read  in  Rome.  At  the  last  census  2,900  people 
within  the  walls  of  that  city  returned  themselves  as 
Protestants.  That  is  not  a  matter  to  be  despised.  Then 
if  we  look  to  that  great  Germany,  of  which  so  much  has 
been  said,  I  do  trust  that  Providence  is  so  over-ruling  it 
that  the  Bible  shall  become  more  and  more  the  symbol 
of  international  sympathy  between  the  great  Protestant 
countries,  Germany,  England,  America,  England  standing 
between  the  one  and  the  other,  between  the  old  world  and 
the  new,  having  ties  with  both  and  claim  upon  both,  a 
union  not  against  the  world  but  for  the  world,  for  I  believe 
that  our  dear  friends  in  France  the  best  thing  that  could 
happen  to  France  would  be  to  have  neighbours  all  around 
her  as  strong  that  she  should  ask  nothing  better  from  them 
than  to  be  let  alone,  and  they  ask  nothing  better  from  her 
than  to  be  let  alone.  When  it  comes  to  that  all  the  world 
round,  we  may  hope  for  tne  time  when  men  may  begin  to 
learn  war  no  more.  As  to  the  great  work  in  India,  thank 
God  that  it  is  going  on.  Many  thousands  of  towns  and 
villages  your  colporteurs  have  reached,  in  many  a  place 
the  Bible  has  been  its  own  witness.  Africa  wants  the 
Bible.  The  heart  of  Livingstone  is  in  Africa,  though  the 
clay  of  Livingstone  lies  yonder  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
When  I  saw  that  clay  laid  there,  and  saw  the  President  of 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  following  it,  and  saw 
the  veteran  missionary  who  sits  there,  Robert  MotTat,  I  felt 
as  if  there  were  an  undercurrent  of  voices — the  voice  of 
the  great  scientific  world,  and  the  voice  of  the  historic 
world,  and  the  voice  of  the  literary  world — that  passed  so 
softly  ;  and  then,  as  if  there  was  the  great  social  voice, 
mother  Britannia,  saying  with  satisfaction,  "  He  has  been 
restored   to   my  bosom/'  and   Scotia   saying   to  daughter 


i68        PLATFORM  AIDS— BIBLE   DISTRIBUTION. 

Albion  in  the  sight  of  mother  Britannia,  "Well,  well,  he 
shall  sleep  in  your  bosom,  but  he  was  my  bairn."  And 
above  all  to  me  came  the  voice  of  Africa  saying,  "  I  must 
have  the  light !  I  must  have  the  light !  The  deserts  and 
the  crimes  of  men  have  shut  me  off  long  enough  from  the 
light,  but  I  must  have  the  light  ! "  And  another  voice 
saying,  of  England,  "Which  is  committed  to  my  trust." 
We  often  speak  of  our  trust  in  God,  and  ought  to  do  so  ; 
we  seldom  think  of  that  solemn  act  in  which  God  puts 
trust  in  us,  "Committed  to  my  trust."  What  is  committed  1 
a  message — a  message  of  glad  tidings.  Every  one  re- 
members that  event  in  the  history  of  old  time,  when  news 
reached  Athens  of  the  fall  of  Mitylene,  and  in  a  fit  of 
madness  and  pride  the  Athenians  decided  that  every  man 
of  Mitylene  should  be  put  to  death,  and  sent  off  a  swift 
galley  with  the  doom.  But  in  the  night  they  repented, 
and  sent  off  another  galley  with  the  command  that  the 
people  should  be  spared.  The  gospel  of  life  was  com- 
mitted to  them  ;  they  had  to  row  for  dear  life.  They  were 
in  time,  for  the  people  were  saved.  England  !  England  ! 
it  is  committed  to  thy  trust,  for  India,  for  Africa,  for  many 
another  land.     May  God  give  thee  faith  to  fulfil  it ! 


IX.    The  Power  of  the  Bible.     By  Rev.  E.  Herbert 

Evans. 

He  had  gone  through  North  and  South  Wales  for  several 
years  as  a  deputation  for  this  noble  Society,  and  1  e  had 
always  found  that  when  he  could  get  audiences  to  see  their 
indebtedness  to  the  Bible  personally,  and  socially,  he  had  a 
contribution  exceeding  the  one  of  the  previous  year.  The 
Bible  took  with  it  everywhere  a  standard  of  morality 
simple  enough  to  change  the  life  of  the  inmates  of  the 
humblest  cottage  home,  and  high  enough  to  transform  a 
world  with  a  Paradise  regained.  There  were  three  Bibles 
that  were  great  powers  in  the  formation  of  character  in 
Wales,  the  Family  Bible,  the  Teacher's  Bible,  and  the 
Mother's  Bible.  Having  illustrated  the  power  exerted 
under  these  forms  by  the  Scriptures,  the  speaker  dwelt 
upon  the  varied  influences  exerted  by  the  religion  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  failure  of  all  efforts  to  destroy  its  power, 


CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  AND    TEMPERANCE.     169 


The  Bible  still  remained,  he  added,  on  the  study  table 
as  an  unsolved  problem,  with  a  self-conscious  sense  of 
power,  seeming  to  say  to  all  the  other  volumes  in  the 
library — 

"  Books  may  come  and  books  may  go, 
But  I  go  on  for  ever." 


IV.  TEMPERANCE. 

I.    The  Church  of  England  and  the  Temperance 
Movement,     ^^y  The  Bishop  of  Bedford. 

We  are  here  as  a  Branch  of  the  C.E.T.S.,  and  as  a  Bishop 
of  the  Church  I  feel  very  keenly  desirous  to  promote  its 
interests  in  every  way  I  can,  and  I  think  that  as  I  am 
addressing  Church  people  to-day,  I  will  venture  to  say, 
Let  us  try  to  work  as  far  as  possible  upon  Church  lines. 
We  love  our  dear  old  Church  of  England,  and  I  do  not 
think  we  can  do  better  than  stick  to  her  and  work  on  her 
system  and  on  her  lines.  I  mention  that,  because  I  think 
it  will  be  a  great  advantage  to  this  part  of  our  work  if  as 
many  Branches  in  various  parishes  are  not  only  parochial 
movements  confined  to  a  particular  parish — there  are  a 
certain  number  of  such — but  that  they  should  be  definitely 
and  distinctly  affiliated  to  the  Parent  Society.  I  believe 
myself  that  the  Society  is  not  aware  of  the  great  number 
of  Branches,  because  those  Branches  have  never  taken  the 
trouble  to  make  themselves  known  and  to  go  through 
the  very  simple  process  of  declaring  themselves  Branches 
of  this  Society.  I  think  it  will  be  very  desirable  if,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  Juvenile  Branches,  wherever  established, 
should  be  affiliated  to  this  Society  in  order  that  we  may 
have  the  strength  of  sympathy  and  fellowship,  that  we 
may  know  what  large  numbers  there  are  all  working  in 
the  same  cause,  and  that  we  may  feel  that  our  cause  is  not 
an  isolated  thing,  not  a  mere  movement  circumscribed  by 
the  boundaries  of  any  one  parish  or  district,  but  it  is  a 
great  national  movement  as  well  as  a  Christian  Church 
movement.  With  regard  to  the  juvenile  part  of  the  work, 
certainly   my    great    hopes   for   the    improvement   of  the 


I70  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

country  lie  with  the  young.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal 
during  the  last  year  with  regard  to  the  state  of  our  poorer 
fellow  countrymen,  the  homes  especially  in  which  they 
live,  and  have  listened  to  a  good  deal  of  painful  evidence 
upon  the  wretched  and  disgraceful  state  of  those  homes — 
if  you  can  dare  call  them  such,  for  one  is  ashamed  to 
give  the  beautiful  word  "  home  "  to  such  places — and  this 
evidence  makes  one  feel  that  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be 
done  before  one  can  look  upon  this  country  as  in  at  all  a 
fit  and  proper  state  for  the  training  up  of  the- next  genera- 
tion. The  places  in  which  so  many  of  our  poorer  brethren 
live  are  so  hopelessly  crowded,  and  the  apartments  of  those 
places  are  so  wretched,  the  rooms  so  dirty  and  ill-adapted 
for  cleanliness  and  for  healthfulness,  that  one  feels  pity  for 
the  poor  children  who  are  brought  up  there,  and  one  knows 
as  a  matter  of  common  experience  that  the  ill-ventilated, 
crowded,  and  unwholesome  rooms,  in  which  so  many  are 
brought  up,  are  amongst  the  greatest  incentives  possible  to 
those  habits  of  drinking  which  we  deplore,  and  against 
which  we  are  fighting.  For  my  part,  I  grieve  with  all  my 
heart  over  the  way  in  which  strong  men  and  strong  women, 
who  feel  the  sinking  of  such  a  life,  and  even  little  children 
too,  are  often  driven  to  the  public-house.  It  makes  one's 
heart  bleed  to  know  it,  but  at  the  same  time  one  feels  that 
if  one  lived  in  such  places  as  have  been  described  before 
the  Royal  Commission  to  inquire  into  the  housing  of  the 
poor,  one's  wonder  is  really  taken  away — not  one's  pity. 
It  is  sometimes  a  wonder  that  people  will  stop  in  of  an 
evening  in  such  places  at  all.  I  say  that  my  hope  is  in 
the  young,  and  it  is  so  because  we  must  train  them  to 
better  habits,  we  must  teach  them  cleanliness,  purity, 
some  sanitary  matters,  to  know  how  to  make  their  homes 
healthful,  and  we  must  so  train  them  that  when  they 
become  the  generation  of  fathers  and  mothers  of  our  land 
they  may  be  in  a  far  more  wholesome  state  than  the 
present  generation  is  in.  If  we  are  to  do  this  work,  surely 
that  Branch  in  which  we  are  engaged  is  a  most  important 
Branch,  and  one  that  must  stand  in  the  very  forefront  of 
all  our  endeavours.  I  do  not  see  how  children  are  to  be 
trained  to  any  better  life  than  that  in  which  they  will  come 
to  unless  they  find  an  escape  from  the  perils  of  drink. 
Unless  they  really  are  trained  up  to  fight  against  it,  to 


CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND   AND    TEMPERANCE.     171 


resist  it,  to  flee  from  it  and  save  themselves  from  the 
misery  it  brings— I  say,  I  do  not  see  what  hope  there  is  of 
better  homes  for  the  'future  or  better  habits  amongst  our 
people.  I  hope  that,  looking  at  it  from  that  low  point  of 
view,  we  may  see  this  movement  progress  and  prosper. 
But,  then,  we  want  to  rise  to  something  higher.  I  want  to 
feel  not  only  that  we  are  bound  to  do  all  we  can  to  train 
up  our  people  socially,  and  civilize,  and  brighten,  and 
humanize  their  lives,  to  give  them  something  more  to 
interest  them  than  they  have  at  the  present  time— all  that 
is  true,  but  beyond  that  surely  what  we  do  want  most  of 
all  is  to  teach  them  the  fear  of  God,  to  follow  the  Saviour, 
and  to  lead  religious  lives  as  well  as  pure  and  cleanly  lives. 
I  believe  that  as  the  drink  is  the  great  enemy  of  purity 
and  cleanliness  in  the  habitations  of  the  people,  no  less 
certainly  is  it  the  great  enemy  of  all  religious  life  and 
character.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  familiarity  not  only 
with  drink  itself  but  with  all  its  surroundings  is  one  of  the 
most  deteriorating  things  to  the  whole  moral  atmosphere. 
The  children  cannot  be  expected  to  be  brought  up  to  lead 
the  lives  we  should  wish  with  such  surroundings,  and 
therefore  every  single  child  we  can  enrol  in  our  Bands  of 
Hope,  and  who  joins  this  Juvenile  Section,  is  one  more  on 
the  side  of  hopefulness  and  on  the  side  of  what  we  are  all 
fighting  for — the  rescue  of  our  people  from  degradation, 
from  poverty,  from  misery,  from  irreligion.  Therefore, 
I  do  hope  that  God  will  bless  this  work  very  much  indeed. 
Children  sometimes  fancy  that  they  can  do  very  little 
themselves.  They  can  be  trained,  helped,  and  guarded  by 
others,  but  they  often  think  that  there  is  not  much  that 
they  can  do  themselves.  Now,  very  little  children,  do 
remember  this,  that  you  can  do  a  great  deal  more  than 
you  think.  The  example  of  a  little  child  joining  such  a 
Society  as  this,  and  steadfastly  refusing  to  enter  into 
temptation— because  that  is  really  what  you  are  doing — 
is  of  the  greatest  possible  benefit.  We  pray,  "  Lead  us 
not  into  temptation,"  and  I  cannot  imagine  anything  much 
better  for  people  to  see  and  to  know  than  that  little 
children  not  only  pray  this,  but  as  far  as  possible  act  up 
to  it  by  avoiding  temptation.  They  reason,  "  I  say  every 
day  such  a  prayer  as  that,  but  how  can  I  say  it  if  I  allow 
myself  to  go  into  temptation  } "     Therefore,  you  are  doing 


172  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

a  good  deal  in  the  way  of  example.  I  will  tell  you  a  story 
which  will  show  you  how  an  example  may  be  blessed. 
There  is  a  large  hospital  in  the  East  of  London,  and  in 
one  of  the  wards  where  a  good  many  men  are  always 
lying  in  their  beds,  there  was  quite  a  little  boy  brought  in 
one  day.  There  were  several  other  boys  there.  He  was 
not  so  ill  that  he  could  not  get  up  and  down  from  the  bed 
himself,  so  at  night,  before  he  went  to  sleep,  he  knelt  down  ; 
and  a  rough  man  called  one  of  the  nurses  and  said,  "  What 
is  that  lad  doing  ?  "  "  Saying  his  prayers."  "  What  does 
he  belong  to  ?  "  asked  the  man.  **  I  will  ask  him  when  he 
is  done,"  said  the  nurse.  She  went  to  the  boy  and  asked 
him  where  he  came  from  and  what  he  belonged  to.  He 
said,  "I  am  Church  of  England."  She  went  back  to  the 
man  and  said  that  the  boy  belonged  to  the  Church  of 
England.  "  Then,"  said  the  man,  "  I  should  like  to  see 
the  parson  of  the  parish  he  comes  from."  So  they  sent  for 
the  parson,  and  he  came  ;  but  before  he  did  so  that  little 
boy  had  been  a  missionary  in  the  ward.  He  had  been 
telling  the  men  and  the  other  boys  that  they  ought  to  say 
their  prayers  ;  and  he  had  so  prepared  the  way  for  the 
clergyman  that  he  was  astonished  to  find  what  one  little 
boy  had  done  by  his  example.  Now,  dear  children,  you 
try  and  do  the  same. 

II.    The    Picture    Reversed.     By  Canon  Fleming. 

We  have  all  perceived  by  the  delight  we  have  received 
that  this  is  the  Scotch  evening,  and  I  read  in  the  Temper- 
ance Record  that  an  Irish  evening  has  preceded  it,  and  so 
we  all  feel  that  the  rose,  the  shamrock,  and  the  thistle  have 
been  united  in  this,  and  in  every  good  work  of  the  past  and 
the  present,  and  we  believe  it  will  be  so  in  the  future. 
There  is  no  time  at  which  we  could  be  better  reminded  of 
the  fealty  and  loyalty  of  the  United  Kingdom  than  at  a 
time  when  we  have  just  heard  from  our  good  Queen  of  the 
betrothal  of  her  youngest  daughter,  and  in  a  week  when  all 
England  has  celebrated,  not  with  pageant  as  in  olden  days, 
but  with  the  quiet  respect  and  homage  of  their  hearts,  the 
coming  of  age  of  our  young  Prince  Edward,  reminding  us 
that,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  clouds  upon  the  horizon 
for  old  England,  the  throne  of  this  country  rests  fast  and 


THE  PICTURE   REVERSED.  I73 


strong  and  deep  upon  the  foundation  of  national  loyalty. 
It  also  reminds  us— does  this  rose,  shamrock,  and  thistle^ 
of  three  bonds  of  union  in  reference  to  the  Temperance 
cause  which  brings  so  many  of  our  hearts  together  even  on 
this  wet  and  inclement  night  ;  I  mean  that  in  the  past  days 
when  it  had  its  hard  beginning  there  were  three  things  that 
were  dead  against  this  cause — Science,  Experience,  and  the 
Church.  Science,  so  called,  was  opposed  to  this  cause  in 
the  shape  of  the  doctors,  and  the  wives  joined  the  doctors 
in  those  days,  and  that  made  science  so  much  the  worse  for 
the  married  men.  The  consequence  was  that  whenever  any 
of  us  dreamed  of  becoming  a  teetotaler,  the  wife  got  the 
doctor  on  her  side,  and  science  was  dead  against  us.  But 
now  what  a  wonderful  change  !  Modern  wives  dare  not 
say  a  word  on  that  side  now,  because,  though  there  are  men 
here  and  there  who  no  doubt  hold  fast  to  the  old  drinking 
customs  and  the  good  the  drink  is  supposed  to  do  to  their 
patients,  more  than  2,000,  you  will  remember,  long  ago,  of 
the  elite  of  the  medical  profession  signed  in  favour  of  total 
abstinence,  and  we  have  such  men  as  Dr.  Richardson  and 
other  eminent  scientists  of  the  day  all  declaring  that  stimu- 
lants are  not  necessary  for  bodily  health  and  daily  work. 
Then  we  had  in  those  days  Experience  against  us.  That  is 
to  say  there  was  no  experience  at  all.  _  People  had  not  tried 
it  long  enough.  The  good  men  who  were  the  pioneers  of 
this  cause  first  began  it  ;  then  old  friends  came  to  them 
and  asked  them  very  crucial  questions  about  how  it  would 
suit  them,  and  they  could  not  quite  answer,  so  that  formerly 
a  man  used  to  sign  the  pledge  as  if  he  were  going  to  be 
hanged,  or  going  to  be  married,  and  sign  it  with  a  far  more 
unsteady  hand  than  we  clergy  are  accustomed  to  see  some 
of  you  sign  your  names  to  the  register  when  you  are 
married.  If  a  man  now  comes  and  says,  "  I  want  to  know 
how  this  will  suit  my  constitution,"  then,  of  course,  you  can 
hear  from  him — because  you  must  sympathise  with  his 
constitution— you  can  hear  from  him  what  kind  of  a  con- 
stitution he  has,  and  then  say  that  "for  many  years  there 
have  been  hundreds  and  thousands  of  just  such  a  constitution 
as  yours  who  have  done  without.it  and  have  done  very 
well."  And  then  if  a  person  comes  and  says,  "  You  must 
remember  that  I  am  no  longer  young  " — we  do  not  always 
like  to  acknowledge,  men  as  well  as  women,  our  age—"  but 


174  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

how  do  you  think  it  will  suit  my  age  ? "  Of  course  you 
must  let  a  man  tell  you  in  a  general  way.  Do  not  ask  a 
lady  her  age,  but  let  a  man  tell  you  in  a  general  way,  and 
you  can  say,  "  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  exactly 
your  age  and  older  too,  who  have  done  a  long  time  without 
it,  and  done  very  well."  Hence  we  have  now  got  experience 
as  well  as  science  ;  and  then  there  is  the  third  thing  which 
makes  up  the  rose,  the  shamrock,  and  the  thistle  in  this 
great  cause,  the  Church  of  God  is  on  our  side.  In  the 
early  days  of  this  movement  there  were  hardly  any  of  the 
clergy — twenty  years  ago  when  I  joined  it  there  were 
hardly  any,  and  hardly  any  of  the  Nonconformist  ministers, 
comparatively  speaking,  who  were  on  our  side,  but  now  the 
Church  of  God,  and  by  that  I  mean  the  whole  Church  of 
God — I  do  not  mean  any  particular  section  of  it,  but  I 
mean  the  universal  Church — for  I  desire  to  remember  in 
this,  in  every  cause,  that  every  Christian  is  my  brother, 
and  if  we  cannot  learn  that  here  below,  and  if  we  cannot 
learn  to  shake  hands  over  God's  good  cause,  it  will  be  a 
very  bad  thing  for  us  because  we  shall  have  to  shake  hands 
when  we  meet  in  heaven.  Well,  the  whole  Church  of  God 
is  taking  hold  of  this  cause,  and  the  consequence  is  that 
there  is  a  wave  of  Christian  temperance  going  over  this 
land,  and  we  have  these  three  things,  which  were  once 
against  the  cause  all  on  our  side — Science,  Experience,  and 
the  Church  of  God.  And  now,  friends,  another  year  has 
just  turned  with  all  of  us.  We  have  come  here  to  listen  to 
charming  music,  we  have  come  here  to  have  the  infliction 
of  a  ten  minutes'  speech,  but  we  are  not  met  either  to  listen 
to  music  or  to  talk  only.  If  we  are  honest,  and  if  we  are 
sincere  in  our  purpose,  in  our  work,  and  in  our  duty,  we 
meet  to  consider  how  each  of  us  ought  to  act,  and  what  we 
ought  to  do.     As  Longfellow  said  : 

"Act,  act  in  the  living  present, 
Heart  within,  and  God  o'erhead." 

What  are  we  going  to  do  this  year  for  this  good  cause  ? 
Let  us  all  find  out  something  we  can  do  to  advance  it.  U 
we  have  not  joined  it  let  us  do  so  this  year.  Give  your 
influence,  your  example,  your  name  to  it ;  you  will  never 
regret  having  joined  this  cause,  and  if  you  have  joined  it, 
then  strive  to  bring  others  along  with  you  this  year.    Strive 


THE  PICTURE   REVERSED.  175 

to  make  your  influence  and  example  more  felt  than  they 
have  been  yet.  Remember,  we  are  united  in  God's  cause. 
God  is  on  our  side.  You  will  never  hear  men  get  up  now 
and  defend  this  thing  as  they  used  to  do  long  ago.  There 
is  not  a  father  to  night  who,  if  his  son  were  going  out  into 
the  world  this  New  Year,  would  not  rejoice  to  know  that 
he  went  out  as  a  total  abstainer.  There  is  not  a  mother  in 
London  to-night  who,  if  her  young  daughter  were  going 
out  into  the  world  far  away,  would  not  rejoice  to  think  she 
went  out  as  a  total  abstainer.  There  is  not  an  employer  in 
London  to-night — I  care  not  whether  he  be  a  moderate 
drinker  or  an  abstainer — who  would  not  be  glad  to  employ 
a  young  fellow  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  He  is  a  staunch 
teetotaler,"  in  his  business.  So,  brethren,  we  are  banded 
in  a  good  work.  It  is  God's  work.  God  is  on  our  side, 
and  let  us  recollect  that  we  are  banded  against  a  terrible 
evil — the  great  curse  of  this  country,  because  it  is  one  of 
the  most  widespread.  You  have  heard  a  great  deal  in  the 
last  year  of  the  cholera.  You  know  how  many  thousands 
that  plague  has  swept  off.  We  have  all  just  heard  of  that 
terrible  earthquake  and  the  shocks  that  are  still  felt,  as  it 
were,  beneath  the  feet  of  the  living,  and  you  know  how 
many  lives  that  earthquake  has  destroyed  ;  but  recollect 
that  the  cholera  and  the  earthquake  together,  yes,  and  war 
and  other  things  added,  and  disease  and  sickness — they  have 
not  slain  more  in  comparison  than  this  evil  and  curse  of 
strong  drink  is  doing  in  the  homes  of  this  land.  And  then 
remember  that  this  is  an  evil  of  our  own  creating.  It  is  an 
evil  of  man's  creation — not  an  evil  of  God's  dispensation.  So 
let  us  be  united  in  our  fight  against  this  evil.  The  victory  is 
not  won  yet.  The  battle  has  only  begun.  Let  us  be  united 
in  our  purpose  and  in  our  effort,  and  remember  that  we  shall 
never  desist  while  there  are  drunkards  still  to  be  rescued,  and 
while  there  are  homes — miserable  homes — still  to  be  filled 
with  the  gladness  and  the  sunshine  of  Christian  joy. 

"  In  the  Name  of  God  advancing, 

Plough,  and  sow,  and  labour  now  ; 
Let  there  be  when  evening  cometh, 
Honest  sweat  upon  the  brow." 

"And  the  Master  shall  come  smiling 
When  work  stops  at  set  of  sun, 
Saying  as  He  pays  the  wages, 
'  Good  and  faithful  man — well  done.*  ** 


176  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

III.   Temperance    Arguments,     ^j  The  Bishop  of 

London. 

The  Bishop  remarked  that  the  arguments  used  in  the 
Temperance  cause  must  be  repeated  again  and  again.  It 
was  only  by  gradual  process  that  the  practices  of  mankind 
could  be  changed.  Long  after  they  had  convinced  men's 
reason  they  would  cling  to  their  own  customs,  and  do 
things  which  they  professed  to  regret  while  they  did  them. 
The  advocates  of  Temperance  did  not  profess  any  magical 
method,  and  they  must  persist  in  their  work  so  long  as  bad 
customs  were  persisted  in,  and  must  let  people  know  they 
did  not  intend  to  be  defeated  by  the  slowness  of  their  own 
progress.  Lideed,  though  their  work  might  be  called  slow, 
there  was  enough  of  it  to  show  God's  blessing  was  with 
them.  Work  of  this  sort  must  take  the  labour  of  more 
than  one  generation.  But  this  would  not  daunt  those  who 
had  taken  up  the  cause  of  Temperance.  They  were  grow- 
ing in  numbers  as  they  were  growing  in  resoluteness.  The 
young  were  growing  up  who  had  never  known  the  taste  of 
drink,  and  with  the  princely  heart  of  innocence  walked  in 
the  midst  of  temptation  without  harm.  And  those  who 
hesitated  to  join  the  Total  Abstainers  were  joining  the 
General  Section  in  large  numbers,  and  that  was  a  very 
strong  evidence  of  the  growth  of  the  cause  in  public 
opinion.  It  meant  that  though  there  were  a  great  many 
not  yet  convinced,  it  was  the  duty  of  every  one  not  yet 
convinced  to  take  part  in  the  work.  And  by  joining  the 
Society  they  showed  they  did  not  disapprove  the  methods 
of  Total  Abstainers.  He  looked  upon  the  growth  of  the 
general  section  as  a  remarkable  phenomenon  in  the  history 
of  the  Temperance  cause,  although  he  himself  had  long 
joined,  and  joined  with  all  his  heart,  the  cause  of  total 
abstinence.  The  general  section  was  a  proof  that  they 
endeavoured  to  force  no  man's  conscience  in  spite  of  their 
enthusiasm.  And  a  large  number  of  those  who  began  in 
the  general  section  had  ended  in  the  total  abstinence  sec- 
tion. In  this  way  also  all  society  was  penetrated.  They 
were  leavening  the  whole  of  society  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest.  At  many  a  gentleman's  table  now  there  was 
no  intoxicating  liquor  at  all,  and  at  almost  every  table  one 
sat  down  to  the  quantity  had  diminished  and  diminished 


TEMPERANCE   ARGUMENT.  177 

year  after  year,  until  it  was  very  rare  indeed  to'  see  now 
what  ten  years  ago  was  exceedingly  common,  namely,  men 
who  never  got  drunk  in  their  lives,  but  who  yet,  neverthe- 
less, indulged  very  foolishly  indeed.  Then,  what  had  been 
done  by  this  enemy  of  all  good  ?  How  had  it  ruined  our 
trade  far  more  than  any  other  cause  ?  Let  them  think 
how  this  evil  had  interfered  with  our  faith  far  more  than 
any  other  cause.  Scepticism  and  infidelity — what  could 
they  do,  evil  as  they  were,  in  comparison  with  that  indul- 
gence which  robbed  a  man  of  his  reason  to  begin  and 
degraded  him  body  and  soul  at  last?  Or  how  could  they 
deny  that  the  souls  that  had  been  lost  by  any  such  cause 
as  this  could  be  numbered  against  the  souls  perishing  be- 
cause all  religious  life  was  dying  out  through  indulgence 
in  this  dreadful  sin  }  There  were  many  other  things  doing 
mischief,  but  there  were  no  others  that  could  be  compared 
with,  or  that  could  be  set  by  the  side  of,  this  monarch  in 
the  kingdom  of  wickedness.  They  meant  to  go  on  and 
fight  to  the  end,  and  they  were  sure  to  win.  It  was  true 
that  at  present  it  seemed  as  if  they  had  as  yet  only  dealt 
with  the  fringe  and  surroundings  of  the  mass  of  mischief 
There  was,  as  it  were,  a  hard  and  solid  core  of  evil  that 
they  had  been  unable  effectually  to  reach,  and  which  they 
could  not  touch  as  yet.  They  wanted  more  workers  ;  they 
wanted  more  devotion  to  the  cause,  more  entire  self-sur- 
render, and  they  would  surely  get  that.  For,  as  the  cause  had 
gone  on,  this  had  occurred — that  whereas  at  the  beginning 
there  were  but  a  iQ\N  earnest  men  who  made  themselves 
conspicuous  by  their  labours  in  the  endeavour  to  deal  with 
this  evil,  whose  names  would  never  be  forgotten,  now  the 
work  was  taken  in  hand  by  thousands  upon  thousands 
whose  very  number  obscured  their  fame.  This  was  indeed 
a  matter  which  perpetually  gave  him  the  deepest  delight — 
that  go  where  he  would  he  found  amongst  all  men,  and  m 
every  rank,  and  most  of  all  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  toiled 
with  their  hands  for  their  daily  bread,  champions  of  the 
cause  who  were  fighting  hard — who  were  unknown  to  the 
world,  but  who  would  not  lose  their  reward  either  in  this 
world  or  the  next. 


N 


178  PLA  TFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

IV.     Temperance    in    the    Army    and    Navy.     By 
Mr.  W.  S.  Caine,  M.P. 

Mr.  Caine  said  :  "  In  bygone  times  it  was  supposed  that  an 
Enghshman,  Hke  the  denizen  of  any  other  country,  could 
not  fight  unless  he  were  primed  with  intoxicating  liquor,  but 
the  National  Temperance  League  had  taught  the  world  that 
English  sailors  and  soldiers  at  least  did  not  require  'Dutch 
courage '  to  enable  them  to  do  their  duty.  On  the  contrary, 
the  experience  of  every  day  was  demonstrating  in  both 
the  army  and  navy  that  the  greatest  hardships  could  be 
endured,  the  most  difficult  campaigns  carried  through,  and 
the  hardest  work  achieved  by  men  who  wholly  abstained 
from  intoxicating  liquor.  In  the  campaign  up  the  Nile, 
Lord  Wolseley  knew  well  what  he  was  about,  and  the 
country  was  persuaded  that  he  was  carrying  to  a  successful 
issue  one  of  the  most  difficult  campaigns  it  had  ever  fallen 
to  the  lot  of  a  British  general  to  conduct.  The  greater 
portion  of  his  army  had  already  traversed  the  worst  part 
of  the  desert  route,  and  done  it  upon  water.  That  water, 
he  regretted  to  say,  was  of  inferior  quality,  being  largely 
tinctured  with  mud,  and  the  ration  was  only  one  quart  per 
man  per  day,  but  still  so  successful  had  the  march  been 
that  there  was  scarcely  an  invalid.  Again,  the  most  brilliant 
infantry  charge  of  modern  times — that  of  Tel-el-Kebir — 
was  carried  through  on  cold  tea,  and  not  upon  the  spirit 
ration  ;  while  every  day  they  were  proving  in  the  navy — 
the  finest  service  in  the  world  —that  the  seamen  and  marines 
could  do  all  the  miscellaneous  work  that  fell  to  them  in 
campaigning  and  at  sea  infinitely  better  as  teetotalers  than 
under  other  circumstances.  As  regarded  the  bluejackets, 
8,000  of  them  were  teetotalers.  Add  to  these  the  4,000  or 
5,000  teetotalers  in  the  training  ships  and  in  the  naval 
schools,  and  they  had  a  grand  total  of  about  12,000  men 
and  boys  in  the  Royal  Navy  who  were  abstainers.  In- 
telligent officers  were  glad  to  see  their  men  becoming 
teetotalers,  knowing  perfectly  well,  whatever  might  be  their 
own  opinion  as  to  moderate  drinking,  that  their  men  could 
do  their  work  better  without  intoxicating  liquors  than  with 
them.  The  agency  by  which  this  satisfactory  state  of 
things  had  been  brought  about  was  the  National  Temper- 
ance League.     They  began  with  the  boys  in  the  Greenwich 


TEMPERANCE  IN  THE  ARMY  AND  NAVK      179 

Hospital  School,  where  there  was  a  flourishing  Band  of 
Hope,  and  where  Captain  Burney,  the  superintendent, 
gratefully  recognised  the  service  Temperance  work  had 
done  to  his  charge.  When  the  lads  entered  the  training 
ships  they  were  still  encouraged  to  persevere  in  Temperance 
principles,  and  finally,  when  they  went  on  board  the  men- 
of-war,  they  found  the  Temperance  Society,  which  existed 
on  nearly  every  ship,  ready  to  receive  them,  and  there  they 
made  friends  with  abstainers  older  than  themselves.  For 
the  first  two  years  after  entering  a  man-of-war,  instead  of 
drawing  the  spirit  ration,  the  boys  were  allowed  cocoa, 
coffee,  and  other  substitutes.  These  substitutes  they  lost 
if  at  the  end  of  the  two  years  they  elected  to  have  the 
spirit  ration.  This  change  also  was  largely  due  to  the 
National  Temperance  League.  The  Temperance  education 
these  boys  received  in  the  Greenwich  Hospital  School, 
afterwards  in  the  training  ships,  and  finally  in  the  Temper- 
ance Societies  on  board  the  men-of-war,  encouraged  these 
lads  to  persevere  as  teetotalers,  and  hence  the  remarkable 
change  which  had  been  brought  about.  In  this  great 
improvement  the  work  of  Miss  Weston  should  not  be  for- 
gotten. She  had  the  largest  public-houses  in  Devonport 
and  Portsmouth  without  intoxicating  drinks,  for  they  were 
for  the  elevation  and  not  the  debasement  of  the  sailor,  and 
they  were  self-supportmg.  No  one  could  tell  what  the 
British  navy  owed  to  the  successful  efiorts  of  the  League 
to  improve  the  morale  of  the  sailor  both  at  sea  and  on 
shore.  The  way  the  League  proceeded  was  by  persuasion 
— not  by  compulsion.  He  might  claim  to  have  helped  it 
in  the  House  of  Commons  in  getting  certain  concessions 
made  to  the  abstainers  in  the  fleet.  When,  not  long  ago, 
he  was  seeking  re-election  at  Scarborough,  his  opponents 
asked  the  question  of  the  people,  *  Will  you  vote  for  a  man 
who  is  going  to  rob  poor  Jack  of  his  grog  ?'  and  the  answer 
of  the  electors  was  to  return  him  by  a  large  majority.  He 
explained  to  them,  as  he  wished  to  explain  to  this  meeting, 
that  he  never  proposed  to  *  rob  poor  Jack  of  his  grog  ; '  all 
he  wished  to  do  was  to  give  him  every  possible  facility  and 
encouragement  to  give  it  up  voluntarily  and  become  an 
abstainer.  He  did  not  believe  in  compulsion  ;  that  would 
be  a  great  mistake  ;  but  all  he  desired  was  that  the  full 
facts  of  the  case  should  be  laid  before  the  sailor,  and  that 


i8o  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

then  he  should  judge  for  himself.  If  in  a  {q.\v  years  they 
had  been  able  to  persuade  12,000  men  and  boys  in  the 
navy  to  become  teetotalers,  need  they  despair  of  a  time 
when  the  majority,  if  not  all,  of  them  would  be  voluntarily 
abstainers  from  that  which,  in  his  opinion,  degraded  and 
debased  the  men  who  used  it,  whether  they  were  sailors  or 
landsmen  ?  He  had  shown  that  the  Temperance  cause 
was  marching  on  in  the  navy  as  elsewhere,  and  all  he 
asked  from  his  hearers  was  that  they  should  give  to  this 
subject  their  impartial  consideration  as  to  whether  it  was 
not  their  duty  as  Christians  and  as  citizens  to  abstain  from 
that  which,  more  than  anything  else,  was  inimical  to  the 
peace,  the  prosperity,  and  the  happiness  of  the  country." 


V.     Licensing   Laws.     By  Prebendary  Ainslie. 

Our  present  licensing  laws  are  an  attempt  to  place  some 
control  upon  the  liquor  traffic,  and  of  attempts,  not  to 
make  men  sober  by  Act  of  Parliament,  but  to  prevent 
that  impoverishment  of  the  country  which  was  the  result 
of  excess  in  drink.  Some  of  you  know  that  there  was  a 
special  fine  upon  drunkenness  in  a  public-house,  because 
the  licensing  of  that  public-house  was  supposed  'to  make 
it  a  place  where  the  drink  could  be  sold  without  drunken- 
ness, and  if  the  holder  proved  himself  unworthy  of  that 
license,  there  was  a  heavy  fine  upon  drunkenness  in  a 
public-house.  I  will  say  one  word  upon  the  definite 
position  of  total  abstinence  in  reference  to  this  great 
movement.  I  will  say  that,  to  the  inebriate,  total  abstin- 
ence is  a  necessity.  Those  in  trades  which  bring  them 
into  danger  and  temptation,  which  we  may  believe  to  be 
irresistible — to  such  total  abstinence  is  a  necessity.  Why 
do  I  mention  this  }  Because  I  know  that  we  are  often 
prejudiced  against  the  Temperance  movement  by  the  ex- 
travagant, enthusiastic,  and  fanatical  language  employed. 
But  do  you  know  perhaps  that  some  of  the  most  extrava- 
gant utterances  are  made  by  those  who  are  working  men 
themselves,  and  who  know  the  absolute  necessity  of  total 
abstinence  as  the  only  security  for  their  fellow  working 
men.  I  have  already  given  you  one  instance  of  not  per- 
haps very  brilliant  logic.     You  do  not  expect  these  men  to 


LICENSING  LAWS, 


i«i 


be  very  brilliant  logicians,  but  they  know  what  they  are 
about.  They  know  that  the  young  soldier  who  has  just 
enlisted,  if  he  be  not  an  abstainer,  his  chances  are  a  thou- 
sand to  one  against  his  remaining  sober  and  keeping  out 
of  the  punishment  lists.  You  may  remember  that  at  the 
meeting  held  in  this  room  last  year  Lord  Napier  of 
Magdala  told'  you  that  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  in- 
vestigate 18,000  cases  of  offences  of  soldiers,  and  not  one 
single  one  was  committed  by  a  teetotaler.  What  does 
that  show .?  It  shows  that  to  the  young  soldier  entering 
upon  his  dangerous  career — the  danger  from  the  drink  is  far 
greater  than  the  danger  from  the  bullet  His  only  proof 
armour  is,  under  the  grace  of  God,  total  abstinence.  When 
the  working  man  then  says  that  nothing  but  total  absti- 
nence will  do,  try  not  to  be  offended.  Try  to  put  yourself 
in  that  man's  position,  and  look  at  him  in  his  earnestness, 
and  see  whether  you  cannot  take  him  by  the  hand  and 
say,  "  Nothing  you  can  say  will  offend  me.  I  know  it  will 
not  be  universally  acceptable  to  the  country,  but  God  help 
you  to  do  good  as  you  are  doing  it."  Be  very  patient. 
How  do  you  know  the  reasons  why  these  enthusiastic 
advocates  speak  as  they  do  in  burning  words.  Do  any  of 
you  know  what  it  is  to  have  intemperance  in  your  own 
families,  to  have  a  home  desolated,  to  have  a  home  that 
the  world  would  call  respectable,  destroyed  by  intemper- 
ance ?  And  then,  do  you  think  that  a  man  who  has  seen 
that,  and  who  believes  that  he  can,  by  earnestly  pleading, 
prevent  it  in  the  case  of  others — do  you  believe  that  such 
a  man  can  measure  his  words  }  You  do  not  know  human 
nature  if  you  think  he  can.  You  have  never  felt  what  it 
is  to  be  enthusiastic  ;  God  grant  that  you  may  feel  it. 
Therefore,  do  not  be  hard  upon  those  who  will,  perhaps, 
offend  your  fastidious  ears  by  the  burning  enthusiasm  of 
their  words.  Turn  your  thou^^hts  into  your  own  memories. 
Do  you  not  recollect  a  time  in  your  lives  when  you  were 
enthusiastic,  when  you  used  words,  perhaps,  a  little  too 
strong — I  mean  the  time  before  you  were  married.  Were 
there  no  little  exaggerations  in  your  little  methods  of  ex- 
pression .'*  Why  was  it  so  }  Because  you  felt  very  deeply 
and  you  were  apt  to  express  yourselves  a  little  bit  warmly. 
Those  people  feci  deeply,  and  no  wonder  that  they  express 
themselves  warmly.     I  turn  to  my  total  abstinence  friends, 


1 82  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

for  I  am  a  total  abstainer,  and  I  say,  do  you  be  patient 
with  those  who  are  abstainers.  Instead  of  snubbing  tHem, 
try  and  show  them  how  can  they  help  you.  A  branch 
that  has  a  good  general  section  is  a  strong  branch,  and  do 
not  discourage  it.  You  remember  what  we  read,  "  Is  thy 
heart  right  with  my  heart  ?  if  it  be  so,  give  me  thine 
hand  ! " 

VI.    What  Doctors  Say.    By  The  Rev.  J.  W.  Horsley, 
M.A.,  Chaplai?i  of  H.M.  Prison,  Clerkemvell,  E.C. 

For  good  or  for  evil  the  power  and  influence  of  the  medical 
profession  in  the  matter  of  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is 
equalled  and  limited  only  by  the  paramount  claims  of  duty 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  vis  inerticE  of  perversity  and  a 
vicious  appetite  on  the  other. 

It  is  honestly  admitted,  though  the  denial  of  every 
doctor  in  the  world  would  not  alter  facts,  that  infinite  and 
often  irremediable  harm  has  been  done  by  the  well-nigh 
indiscriminate  prescription  of  alcohol  as  a  panacea  for 
every  ailment,  by  the  unscientific  way  in  which  the  amount 
taken  has  been  practically  left  to  the  patient,  and  by  the 
continued  neglect  of  many  doctors  to  inform  themselves 
by  experiment  or  even  by  serious  reading  of  the  chemical 
and  physiological  effects  of  this  narcotic  and  irritant 
poison.  It  is  doubtful  if  more  harm  has  ever  been  done 
in  the  name  of  science  than  by  the  eminent  physician  who 
popularized  the  port  wine  treatment  of  disease,  with  results 
that  generations  yet  unborn  will  lament,  but  lament  in  vain, 
until  under  the  influence  of  better  fashions  and  better 
science  the  physical  evil  has  gradually  died  out.  Who  has 
not  heard  the  excuse  of  the  immoderate  tippler,  **  My 
doctor  orders  me  to  keep  my  constitution  up  by  stimulants, 
by  some  generous  (.'')  wine  "  }  Who  has  not  met  with  the 
excuse,  "  I  only  take  it  as  a  medicine"  1  True,  these  ex- 
cuses are  often  known,  even  by  those  who  depend  on  them, 
not  to  be  reasons  ;  true,  there  is  as  much  dishonesty  on 
the  part  of  patients  in  the  use  they  make  of  a  palatable 
prescription  as  there  is  carelessness  on  the  part  of  doctors 
in  the  way  that  prescription  is  given,  its  effects  watched, 
and  its  disuse  ordered  ;  yet  still  the  medical  grounds  for 
or  against  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  (the  question  of 


WHAT  DOCTORS   SAV.  183 

the  retention  of  alcohol  as  a  drug  is  entirely  separate  and 
not  yet  ripe  for  settlement)  must  always  be  seriously 
examined,  whatever  be  our  predilections  or  habits.  And 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  examination  of  the  properties 
and  powers  of  alcohol  has  been  largely  forced  on  medical 
men  by  their  patients,  and  perhaps  still  more  by  the  ex- 
istence and  health  of  those  who  rarely  become  their  patients. 
It  is  not  so  loner  ao^o  that  the  medical  officers  of  Insurance 

o         o 

Societies  to  a  man  advised  their  Boards  not  to  accept  the 
proposals  of-  total  abstainers,  who  must,  ipso  facto,  be  mori- 
bund or  chronic  invalids  at  the  best ;  now  the  perversity 
of  teetotalers  in  retaining  their  health  and  proving  their 
comparative  longevity  has  forced  such  officers  to  enquire 
most  closely  into  the  Temperance  of  every  would-be  in- 
surer, and  to  assent  to  the  declarations  of  many  an  actuary 
that  from  a  purely  business  point  of  view  the  life  of  a 
teetotaler  is  better  than  that  of  a  moderate  drinker. 
Nothing  should  more  excite  our  thankfulness  than  that 
the  medical  profession  has  been  obliged  to  study  facts 
instead  of  evolving  baseless  theories,  to  minimise  the  pre- 
scription of  alcohol  to  an  extent  that  almost  amounts  to 
a  revolution  in  therapeutics,  and  especially  that  many  have 
studied  deeply  and  spoken  as  clearly,  as  strongly,  in  favour 
of  the  strictest  temperance.  The  disease  of  intemperance 
can  only  be  prevented  or  cured  by  the  co-operation  of  the 
physician  with  the  priest  and  the  teacher,  for  it  attacks 
the  body  as  well  as  the  spiritual  and  mental  faculties,  the 
whole  man,  in  fact,  in  his  tripartite  nature.  Grace  is  mighty, 
and  prayer  guides  the  hand  of  Omnipotence,  but  yet  a 
physical  disease  needs  physical  remedies,  as  our  Lord 
pointed  out  when  He  said,  "this  kind  goeth  not  out  but 
by  prayer  and  fastingl'  which  latter  term  may  be  taken  to 
comprehend  all  physical  remedies  as  prayer  would  include 
every  means  of  grace.  We  thank  God,  therefore,  for  the 
inestimable  advantage  given  to  our  work  as  Temperance 
reformers  by  the  labours  and  works  of  such  men  as  Drs. 
Richardson,  Carpenter,  Kerr,  Parkes,  Edmunds,  Ridge, 
Acland,  Clark,  Drysdale,  and  Greenfield  ;  Professors  Miller 
and  Bernays,  Sir  H.  Thompson  and  Sir  W.  Gull,  and  we 
pray  that  their  brethren  may  more,  and  that  speedily, 
come  to  see  the  responsibility  that  lies  upon  them  to  learn 
exactly  the  nature  and    effects  of  the  alcohol  they  *'  ex- 


i84  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

hibit,"  to  be  more  careful  in  prescribing  it,  and  more  care- 
ful when  it  has  been  prescribed,  that  the  intended  remedy 
does  not  induce  a  habit  and  even  a  disease  worse  than  that 
it  was  intended  to  alleviate  or  cure. 

But  as  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good  that  men  do  lives 
after  them,  so,  unfortunately,  if  the  medical  profession 
were  to  abandon  entirely  the  prescription  of  alcoholic 
beverages,  and  dispense  simply  the  pure  drug  from  their 
toxicological  cabinets  instead  of  from  the  cellars  of  their 
patients  or  the  public-house,  there  would  remain,  for  a 
generation  at  least,  the  tradition  and  the  acquired  habit 
which  would  seek  to  justify  the  use  and  even  the  abuse  of 
alcoholic  drinks  by  the  quotation  of  medical  advice,  dating 
from  a  less  enlightened  era,  and  given  under  different  cir- 
cumstances of  health  or  even  to  different  persons. 

It  is  then  to  aid  those  who  would  create  a  more  healthy 
and  honest  public  sentiment  in  the  matter  that  I  have  read 
some  hundreds  of  papers  or  reports  of  speeches  (my 
labour  being  largely  facilitated  by  the  excellent  Medical 
Temperance  Journal),  and  extracted  from  them  brief  and 
pointed  utterances  on  points  as  to  which  instruction  is 
still  obviously  needed  in  the  face  of  the  ignorance,  pre- 
judice, and  interests  which  exist  about  the  use  of  alcohol 
in  health  or  sickness,  and  its  effects  upon  the  normal  or 
occasional  conditions  of  the  human  frame. 

These  heads  of  instruction  will  be  on  alcohol  and  health, 
alcohol  and  nutriment,  alcohol  and  strength,  alcohol  and 
warmth,  alcohol  and  digestion,  alcohol  and  the  brain, 
alcohol  and  maternity,  alcohol  as  a  medicine,  and  alcohol 
as  a  poison. 

Doctors  will  disagree  no  doubt  as  long  as  doctors  exist, 
and  my  aim  is  not  to  give  both  sides  of  the  question,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  that  side  which  falls  in  with  the 
inclinations  and  habits  of  a  nation  in  which  drinking 
customs  have  held  sway  in  every  class  is  but  too  well  known 
and  too  eagerly  quoted.  I  shall  but  attempt  to  make  it 
clear  to  the  most  prejudiced  or  ignorant  that  our  side  is 
supported  by  the  clearest  testimony  of  eminent  doctors, 
and  thus  haply  to  remove  a  stumbling  block  from  the  weak, 
and  a  cause  of  reproach  from  a.  noble  profession  whose 
attitude  and  teaching  is  but  too  frequently  quoted  as  a 
justification  for  innumerable  follies  and  ills.      But  as  one 


ALCOHOL  AND   HEALTH.  185 

pin  with  an  indubitable  point  will  humble  a  windbag,  how- 
ever solid  it  may  seem,  so  one  clear  demonstration  of 
science,  one  dictum  logically  deduced,  may  cause  each  one 
of  the  fallacies  about  the  use  of  intoxicants  which  are 
popular  in  both  senses  of  the  word  to  be  seen  in  their  true 
colour  as  absurdities  and  untruths,  until  of  all  the  argu- 
ments and  reasons  for  drinking  none  remain  save  the  last, 
though  most  honest,  refuges  of  the  advocates  of  alcohol — 
"  I  like  it,"  and  "  It's  the  fashion." 

I  would  only  add  that  I  shall  be  grateful  to  any  who  will 
bring  to  my  notice  such  additional  dicta  of  medical  men 
of  the  same  character  and  length  as  those  I  shall  quote, 
and  on  the  points  enumerated  above,  as  may  have  escaped 
my  eyes.  This,  with  a  view  to  the  collection  of  the  articles 
into  a  small  pamphlet  hereafter,  which  I  would  have  as 
compLete  as  possible. 

VII.    Alcohol  and  Health.     Alcohol  not  Necessary 
OR  Beneficial  to  Health. 

"  There  .  seem  no  useful  effects  to  be  anticipated  from 
the  use  of  alcohol  in  health." — Dr.  Parkes. 

"  Alcohol  is  never  beneficial  to  a  person  in  health." — 
Dr.  H.  Lee  N orris. 

"People  in  ordinary  health  da  not  require  alcohol  in  any 
form,  and  are  not  benefited  by  it  even  in  very  small 
quantities." — Sttrg.-Major  H.  Cayley. 

"  A  healthy  man,  with  healthy  surroundings,  not  only 
requires  no  alcohol,  but,  daily  taken  as  an  article  of  diet,  it 
is  in  the  end  pernicious." — Mr.  H.  Wtekes. 

"  Neither  spirit,  wine,  nor  malt  liquor  is  necessary  for 
health." — Insp.-General  Sir  J.  Hall. 

"As  for  the  old  opinion  that  people  in  health,  or  living 
in  ordinary  conditions,  could  not  live  or  work  without  wine, 
it  is  an  opinion  no  careful  or  thoughtful  physician  thinks  of 
maintaining." — Prof.  Acland. 

"  Upon  the  whole  the  human  race  would  be  situated  just 
as  favourably  if  the  use  of  alcohol  did  not  exist." — Dr. 
Bardon  Sanderson. 

"  To  a  person  in  good  health  alcohol  is  not  in  the  least 
necessary  or  beneficial ;  he  will  do  harder  and  sounder 
work' without  it." — Dr.  //".  Maudslay. 


i86  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

"  Health  cannot  be  benefited  by  alcohol  in  any  defjree." 
^Dr.  A.   Clark. 

"  Fermented  and  distilled  liquors  are  never  necessary 
for  any  purpose,  except  in  certain  persons  in  whom  habit 
has  created  a  need  of  them  truly  morbid." — Royer- 
Collar d. 

"  A  man  or  woman  who  abstains  is  healthy  and  safe. 
A  man  or  woman  who  indulges  at  all  is  unsafe.  A  man 
or  woman  who  relies  on  alcohol  for  support  is  lost." — Dr, 
B.  IV.  RicJiardson. 

"  I  have  in"  no  case  met  with  a  single  instance  wherein 
abstinence  has  exercised  a  prejudicial  influence  upon  the 
individual  in  any  way." — Dr.  P^ergiis  fergtcson: 

"  Disease  is  much  less  frequent  among  teetotalers,  and 
disease  is  much  less  troublesome." — Mr.  A.  J.  H.  Crcspi. 

"  A  man  finds  that  he  enjoys  best  health  when  he  ab- 
stains altogether  from  wine  and  spirits,  and  drinks  plain 
water." — Dr.  Miwchison. 

"There  can  be  no  excuse  on  physical  grounds  for  reject- 
ing the  practice  of  total  abstinence." — Declaration  of  43 
Army  Doctors  in  India, 


VIII.     A   Teetotaler  in   the    Slums.     By  Mr.  W.  S. 
Caine,  M.P. 

In  the  course  of  a  sermon  Mr.  Caine  related  the  following 
incident  : — 

"  They  knew  it  was  sad  when  a  lad  was  never  to  be 
found  at  home  ;  and  it  proved  the  necessity  of  parents 
making  their  homes  as  bright  and  cheerful  as  possible. 
No  harm  could  come  to  the  boy  who  loved  his  home,  and 
the  girl  who  loved  home  would  never  go  wrong.  Where 
home  was  an  attraction  the  devil  found  it  impregnable. 
The  chief  result  of  the  public-house  was  to  deprive  the 
home  of  its  pure  family  life.  Some  time  ago  he  was  talk- 
ing to  Mr.  George  Russell,  the  Under-Secretary  of  the 
Local  Government  Board,  who  told  him  that  he  was  not 
going  to  the  country  that  summer,  but  was  going  to  spend 
his  holidays  in  the  slums  of  London.  He  asked,  in  a 
joking  way,  *  Is  there  nothing  I  can  do  in   the  slums  for 


THE   BEST  STIMULANTS.  187 

you  ?'  He  (Mr.  Caine)  said  :  *  Yes,  there  is.  Will  you  find 
me  a  teetotaler  in  the  slums.?*  Four  months  afterwards 
Mr.  Russell  came  to  him  and  said  he  had  fulfilled  his  com- 
mission. He  had  found  a  teetotaler,  but  he  lived  in  a 
bright  and  cheerful  room  in  one  of  the  most  wretched  of 
all  the  slums  in  London.  On  inquiring  into  the  cause  of 
the  cheerful  aspect  of  the  room,  Mr.  Russell  was  told  by 
the  wife  of  the  teetotaler  that  both  she  and  her  husband 
had  signed  the  pledge.  Once  let  such  people  break  that 
pledge,"  said  the  preacher,  "and  it  would  prove  the  de- 
struction of  all  their  bright  and  cheerful  homes." 


IX.     The    Best    Stimulants. 

I  WAS  deeply  impressed  by  something  which  an  excellent 
clergyman  told  me  one  day,  when  there  was  nobody  by  to 
bring  mischief  on  the  head  of  the  narrator.  This  clergy- 
man knew  the  literary  world  of  his  time  so  thoroughly  that 
there  was  probably  no  author  of  any  mark  then  living  in 
England  with  whom  he  was  not  more  or  less  acquainted. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  a  new  generation  has  now 
grown  up.  He  told  me  that  he  had  reason  to  believe  that 
there  was  no  author  or  authoress  who  was  free  from  the 
habit  of  taking  pernicious  stimulants,  either  strong  green 
tea  or  strong  coffee  at  night,  or  wine,  or  spirits,  or  lauda- 
num. The  amount  of  opium  taken  to  relieve  the  wear  and 
tear  of  authors  was,  he  said,  greater  than  most  people  had 
any  conception  of,  and  all  literary  workers  took  something. 
"Why,  I  do  not,"  said  I  ;  "fresh  air  and  cold  water  are 
my  stimulants."  "I  believe  you,"  he  replied;  "but  you 
work  in  the  morning,  and  there  is  much  in  that."  I  then 
remembered,  when  I  had  to  work  a  short  time  at  night, 
a  physician  who  called  on  me  observed  that  I  must  not 
allow  myself  to  be  exhausted  at  the  end  of  the  day.  He 
would  not  advise  any  alcoholic  wines,  but  any  light  wines 
that  I  liked  might  do  me  good.  "  You  have  a  cupboard 
there  at  your  right  hand,"  said  he  ;  "  keep  a  bottle  of  hock 
and  a  wineglass  there,  and  help  yourself  when  you  feel 
you  want  it."  "  No,  thank  you,"  said  I  ;  "  if  I  took  wine, 
it  should  not  be  when  alone,  nor  would  1  help  myself  to  a 


1 88  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

glass  ;  I  might  take  a  little  more,  till  my  solitary  glass 
might  become  a  regular  tippling  habit.  I  shall  avoid  the 
temptation  altogether."  Physicians  should  consider  before 
they  give  such  advice  to  brain-worn  workers. 


X.     The    Duty    of   Governments.      By    The    Ven. 

Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S.  ^^  And  He  looked  for 
judgment,  but  behold  oppression  ;  for  righteousness^  but  behold 
a  cry" — Isaiah  v.  7. 

Without  an  apology,  I  shall  speak  of  those  questions 
as  being  essentially  religious.  We  are  citizens  of  no 
mean  city,  and  though,  like  St.  Paul,  we  were  free-born, 
yet  with  a  great  price  obtained  we  this  freedom — the 
price  of  agonies  and  energies,  the  price  of  the  sufferings, 
the  courage,  and  the  blood  of  our  fathers.  Get  rid,  I 
beseech  you,  of  the  ignobly  feeble  notion  that  when  we 
have  observed  the  proprieties,  and  scraped  up  a  pittance 
for  our  families,  we  have  done  our  duty  as  men  or  as 
citizens  ;  or  that  we  are  saints,  or  even  true  Christians,  if 
we  have  merely  adopted  a  censorious  profession,  the 
mother  of  ignorant  Pharisaism  and  the  daughter  of  shiver- 
ing fear.  We  are  not  units,  made  merely  to  clutch  each 
of  us  at  our  own  plank  amid  the  weltering  deluge.  We 
are  brother  men  in  the  great  family  of  God.  We  are  the 
children  of  an  imperial  country,  which,  if  we  do  not  im- 
poverish its  traditions,  and  degrade  its  ideal,  may  yet  bear 
a  splendid  part  in  the  history  of  nations.  We  are  heirs  of 
a  mighty  past,  rich  in  liberty  and  in  heroism.  As  English, 
we  speak  the  tongue  of  Shakespeare,  and  hold  the  faith  and 
the  morals  of  Milton.  We  are  the  trustees  of  posterity  ; 
we  are  the  children  of  a  pure  and  holy  Church  ;  we  are  the 
redeemed  sons  of  God,  and  heirs  of  Heaven.  We  must  be 
mean  indeed  if  we  feel  no  gratitude  for  these  advantages, 
and  derive  no  inspiration  from  them.  They  are  lent  to  us, 
not  given,  and  it  is  our  plain  duty  to  hand  on  the  kindled 
torch  of  our  great  empire,  with  undiminished  lustre,  to 
those  who  shall  come  after  us.  There  is  nothing  so 
revolutionary,  it  has  been  truly  said,  because  there  is  nothing 
so  unnatural  and  convulsive,  as  the  strain  to  keep  things 
fixed,  when  all  the  world  is,  by  the  very  law  of  its  being, 


THE   DUTY   OF  GOVERNMENTS,  189 


in  eternal  progress  ;  and  the  course  of  all  the  evils  in  the 
world  can  be  \raced  to  that  natural,  but  most  deadly,  error 
of  human  indolence  and  selfishness,  that  our  business,  is 
to  preserve,  and  not  to  improve. 

Here,  of  course,  I  shall  not  touch  on  any  question  of 
party  politics.  What  I  would  rather  aim  at  is  to  press 
home  the  eternal  truths  by  which  all  questions  of  policy 
must  be  ultimately  decided.  The  saying  of  the  old  judge, 
that  the  Bible  is  part  of  the  common  law  of  England,  may 
now  be  derided  and  disputed.  It  may  be  stigmatised  as 
only  a  phrase  to  speak  of  Scripture  as  the  statesman's 
manual,  yet  certain  laws  there  are  which  it  behoves  not 
statesmen  only,  but  all  citizens,  to  keep  solemnly  in  mind. 
Laws  they  are  not  of  to-day,  nor  of  yesterday,  but  they 
live  for  ever,  and  none  knoweth  whence  they  dawned. 
Heaven  was  their  birthplace  ;  God  is  their  Author.  They 
spurn  the  force  of  oblivion.  The  whirling  wheel  of  time 
cannot  destroy  them,  nor  the  disdainful  cavillings  of 
worldlings.  Strong  are  they  as  adamant ;  immovable  as 
the  granite  basis  of  the  hills.  The  nation,  no  less  than  the 
man,  which  stumbles  against  them,  shall  be  broken,  and 
on  whomsoever  they  shall  fall,  they  shall  grind  him  to 
powder.  Of  these  the  humblest  servant  of  God  may  speak 
to  the  highest  sovereign.  Such  service  is  above  such 
sovereignty. 

My  friends,  in  time  of  coarse,  material  prosperity,  states 
may  perish  of  slow  decay^  if  men  content  themselves  with 
the  passive  enjoyment  of  sordid  and  spiritless  comfort. 
It  is  not  so  many  years  ago  since  M.  Guizot,  as  Prime 
Minister  of  France,  said,  with  conscious  or  unconscious 
cynicism,  to  the  bourgeois  of  Paris,  "  Enrich  yourselves  !  " 
Has  the  spirit  of  self-enrichment  done  much  for  France? 
But  when  the  times  are  rife  with  serious  problems,  then  if 
the  rich  and  the  privileged  dwell  on  their  rights,  and 
forget  their  duties,  states  may  perish,  not  of  slow  corrup- 
tion, but  of  swift  catastrophe.  We  need  at  this  moment, 
while  yet  there  is  time,  the  action  and  the  reaction,  the 
play,  and  counter  play,  of  two  great  forces  at  their  fullest 
power,  the  force  of  the  individual  and  the  force  of  society, 
the  liberty  of  the  citizens  and  the  strong  hand  of  the  state. 
When  the  individual  is  passive  and  paralysed,  the  vital 
powers  of  the  nation  are  sapped.     When  the  state  is  with- 


IQO  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

out  courage  and  without  initiative,  it  will  be  overthrown 
sooner  or  later  in  deluge  and  earthquake.  The  air  and 
the  wings  are  equally  needful  for  the  eagle's  flight ;  and  m 
the  nation  the  wings  are  the  individual  effort,  and  the 
Government  should  be  as  the  controlling  and  supporting 
air.  Take  two  pictures  by  way  of  illustration — Issachar 
and  Israel.  "  Issachar  is  a  strong  ass  crouching  between 
two  burdens,  and  he  saw  that  rest  was  good,  and  the  land 
that  it  was  pleasant,  and  he  bowed  his  shoulder  to  the 
yoke,  and  became  a  servant  to  tribute."  There  is  passivity 
and  serfdom.  On  the  other  hand,  in  Israel  "  there  was  no 
king  in  those  days  ;  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes."  There  is  individualism  and  anarchy. 
Should  nations  follow  individualism,  they  sink  into  the 
Issachar  condition,  they  stagnate  into  impotence,  they  sink 
into  the  condition  that  has  been  described  as  atheistic  do- 
nothing-ism,  the  philosophy  of  the  breeches  pocket,  the 
comfortable,  lazy  creed  of  the  good  man  who  never,  indeed, 
cut  a  throat  or  dishonoured  a  bill,  but  who  ground  the 
last  stroke  out  of  the  puny,  pallid  children  in  the  factory, 
and  defrauded  the  hireling  of  his  wages.  When,  on  the 
other  hand,  nations  become  like  Israel  under  the  Judges, 
when  states  are  palsied  and  the  passions  of  men  are  let 
loose,  there  you  have  the  orgies  and  the  madness  cf 
revolution,  the  guillotine  reeking  with  the  blood  of  the 
virtuous  and  the  noble,  cities  blazing  with  petroleum,  and 
tumbrils  rolling  through  their  streets.  Nations  may  avert 
these  if  taken  in  time.  We  want  men,  men  who  will  set 
their  faces  as  a  flint  against  tyranny  and  against  oppres- 
sion, but  who  will  be  obedient  as  children  to  all 
beneficent  and  noble  laws  ;  men  of  independent  minds 
who  let  the  crowd  chatter  at  them  and  are  silent ;  God's 
children  by  election,  God's  image  by  beneficence.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  want  ruling  powers  which,  indifferent  to 
the  bickering  of  factious  and  selfish  interests,  will  maintain 
the  weal  of  peace,  and  the  godliness  of  the  people.  We 
want  the  state  to  be  the  Pallas  Athene  of  a  Christian  land, 
who,  while  on  the  one  hand  she  smites  down  crime  and 
anarchy,  and  cleaves  the  hoary  head  of  inveterate  abuse, 
with  the  other  flings  her  aegis  over  the  suffering,  and  pro- 
tects virtue  with  the  terrors  of  her  Gorgon  shield. 

It  is  rather  of  the  State  than   of  the  individual  that  I 


THE  DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENTS.  191 

would  speak  this  morning,  and  I  would  point  out  that 
while  we  would  religiously  letain  what  belongs  to  individual 
liberty,  we  have  a  right  as  citizens  that  the  State  do  for 
us,  at  our  bidding,  things  which  we  have  no  power  to  do 
for  ourselves.  It  is  the  plain  duty  of  governments  to  pro- 
tect the  interests  of  the  poorest  and  of  the  weakest  who 
are  least  represented  in  them,  to  save  us  from  that  deadliest 
and  most  despicable  of  all  forms  of  rule,  the  tyrannies  of 
strong  and  united  fraud  ;  to  protect  men  from  the  wrongs 
of  others,  and,  if  need  be,  even  from  the  vices  of  them- 
selves. Men  talk  of  a  laissez-faire  policy,  but  a  laissez-faire 
policy  is,  in  plain  English,  a  do-nothing  policy.  In  other 
words,  it  is  no  policy  at  all.  It  consists  merely  in  not 
doing,  and  not  letting  others  do.  It  is  to  throw  the  reins 
loose  upon  the  neck  of  headstrong  selfishness.  It  is  to 
leave  us  victims  to  powerful  rings  of  organised  monopolists, 
supporting  by  ill-gotten  wealth  immoral  interests.  Those 
who  would  have  government  inactive  for  moral  protection 
and  for  social  advancement,  stigmatise  state  control  as 
interference,  and  philanthropic  legislation  as  grandmotherly. 
Well,  I  pity  the  man,  and  I  pity  the  state,  that  is  daunted 
by  epigrams.  The  strongest  ruler  whom  England  has 
ever  seen  was  the  one  whose  principle  it  was  to  strike 
directly  at  political  evils,  regardless  of  private  interests, 
and  to  supply  public  needs  without  reference  to  prejudice 
or  to  precedent.  Is  it,  or  is  it  not,  true  that  what  is  morally 
wrong  cannot  be  politically  right  ?  Is  it,  or  is  it  not,  the 
duty  of  governments  to  make  it  easy  to  do  right,  and 
difficult  to  do  wrong  .'^  If  that  be  grandmotherly,  I  say  that 
such  legislation  has  given  us  some  of  the  noblest  orders  in 
the  statute-book,  that  it  has  been  entirely  beneficent,  and 
entirely  Christ-like.  It  was  such  legislation  which  emanci- 
pated hundreds  and  thousands  of  miserable  slaves.  It  was 
such  legislation  which  declared  that  our  brave  sailors  should 
not  be  sent  to  sea  in  floating  coffins  ;  that  women  bent 
double  when  still  young  should  not  be  harnessed  to  trucks 
Hke  beasts  of  burden  in  the  galleries  of  our  black  collieries 
and  mines  ;  that  little  children  should  not  be  blighted 
before  their  time  by  ignorance  and  slavery  ;  that  the  many 
should  not  be  robbed  of  rights,  eternal  and  indefeasible,  by 
the  greed  of  the  few  ;  that  the  bread  of  the  poor  should 
not  be  scanted   for  the  gains  of  the  farmer ;  that  brutal 


192  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

sports  should  not  demoralize  the  callous  hearts  of  the 
multitude  ;  that  the  leprosy  of  impure  literature  should  not 
be  disseminated  broadcast  among  corrupt  thousands  ;  that 
gambling  houses  should  not  be  the  portals  of  ruin  and  of 
suicide,  nor  haunts  of  vileness  flaunt  themselves  like  the 
gates  of  hell.  Whether  that  be  grandmotherly  legislation 
or  not,  I  know  not,  but  if  it  be,  I  for  one  prefer  it  to  the 
legislation  of  the  prodigal  and  of  the  publican  ;  I  prefer  it 
to  the  careless  legislation  which  fosters  want ;  to  the  cruel 
legislation  which  is  indifferent  to  misery  ;  to  the  interested 
legislation  which  would  sacrifice  the  million  to  the 
millionaire  ;  to  the  unjust  legislation,  which,  while  it  loudly 
proclaims  that  the  poor  have  no  right  to  the  property  of  the 
rich,  does  not  proclaim  with  equal  loudness  that  the  rich 
have  no  right  to  the  property  of  the  poor ;  to  the  blind 
legislation  which  will  not  cut  off  the  entail  of  a  nation's 
curse  ;  to  the  Moloch  legislation,  which  slays  yearly  the 
lives  of  thousands  of  children,  sacrificed  to  the  brutality  of 
drunken  parents  ;  to  the  Mammon  legislation,  which  will 
not  ruffle  one  feather  of  the  gilded  plumage,  but  which  is  in- 
difl"erent  to  the  agony  of  the  dying  bird  ;  to  any  legislation 
which  leaves  us  stake-holders  in  a  nation's  sin,  and  therefore 
subject  to  the  ruin  of  a  nation's  expiation.  Yes  ;  and  if 
the  policy  of  laissez-faire  were  indeed  adopted  and  per- 
sisted in,  as  I  trust  it  never  has  been,  or  never  will  be,  then 
one  of  two  things  would  speedily  happen — either  the  pent- 
up  forces  of  discontent  will  raise  the  shout  of  anarchy,  and 
shake  all  social  order  to  the  dust ;  or  the  people,  weary  of 
empty  forms,  of  wasted  hours,  of  sterile  recriminations,  of 
party  watchwords — weary  of  a  franchise  which  only  mocks 
them  with  the  semblance  of  power  joined  to  the  reality  of 
wretchedness — weary,  most  of  all,  of  a  constitution  which 
staggers  hopelessly  beneath  the  load  of  its  difficulties,  with 
no  ear  to  hear,  with  no  heart  to  sympathize,  and  with  no 
arm  to  save,  will  listen  at  last  in  time  to  some  strong  voice 
which  shall  rescue  them  from  moral  and  physical  destruc- 
tion, even  if  that  voice  shall  sound  as  stern  as  that  of  old: 
*'  Take  these  things  hence!  " 

Let  me  point  out  two  spheres  of  action  in  which  the 
nation  may  look  to  its  Parliament  to  save  it  from  dangers 
which  individuals  are  not  strong  enough  to  cope  with. 
Those  dangers  are  partly  physical  and  partly  moral ;  but 


THE  DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENTS.  193 

the  two  are  inextricably  intertwined.  The  physical  evils 
are  the  result  of  the  struggle  for  existence — the  pressure 
of  population,  the  huge  abnormal  growth  of  unwieldy  cities, 
the  spread  of  manufactures,  the  limitations  of  land,  the 
indifference  of  encroaching  selfishness  to  national  rights.  It 
has  been  said  that  we  live  by  three  immaterial  things — by 
admiration,  hope,  and  love  ;  and  by  three  material  things 
— pure  air,  pure  water,  and  pure  earth.  Pure  earth.  Many 
of  us  have  never  possessed,  and  never  will  possess,  one 
inch  of  our  native  soil  ;  not  even  a  corner  for  our  graves. 
So  it  must  be.  The  good  sense  of  Englishmen  will  show 
them  the  utter  folly  of  socialism,  and  the  crime  of  confisca- 
tion, however  plausible  the  euphemisms  under  which  they 
may  be  disguised.  But  we  should  do  well  to  remember 
that  at  the  back  of  every  social  problem  lies  a  social  wrong. 
It  is  not  Mr.  Henry  George,  but  it  is  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
who  has  said  : — "  Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to  house, 
that  lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be -no  place,  that  they  may 
be  placed  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  earth !  "  It  was  not 
Karl  Marx,  but  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  who  wrote  to 
callous  oppressors  : — "  Go  to  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and 
howl  for  the  calamities  that  shall  come  upon  you."  The 
state  can  and  may  watch  over  the  rights  of  the  many  and 
of  the  poor.  It  can,  directly  or  indirectly,  discourage  the 
aggregation  and  facilitate  the  partition  of  these  vast  estates, 
which  were  the  ruin  of  ancient  Italy,  where  one  man 
bestrode  the  narrow  earth  like  a  Colossus.  It  can  watch 
jealously  at  least  that  open  places  be  not  filched  away, 
that  fields  are  not  absorbed,  that  commons  are  not  en- 
croached upon,  that  peasants  are  not  driven  from  their 
humble  tenements,  that  roadsides  are  not  stolen  from  them, 
that  field  paths  are  not  wantonly  blocked  up,  that  river 
sides  and  sea  shores,  that  glens  and  mountains,  the  natural 
property  of  the  world,  be  not  greedily  monopolised,  and 
that,  if  but  few  can  own,  yet  all  nevertheless  can  enjoy 
God's  common  earth. 

And  pure  water.  Who  but  Governments  are  strong 
enough  to  restore  the  rivers  and  streams  of  England,  God's 
priceless  gift  to  us,  to  the  condition  in  which  some  of  us 
remember  them  in  our  youth,  when  the  thrushes  sang  amid 
the  wild  roses  which  blossomed  over  their  crystal  windings, 
as  they  slipped  over  shining  pebbles  or  golden  sand  }     It 

O 


194  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

is  impossible  for  us  ;  but  is  it  too  late  for  Governments 
to  save  them  from  being  what  most  of  them  have  now  been 
made — foul  ditches  of  putrescent  scum  ?  Is  it  too  late  to 
save  our  great  rivers  from  being  sewers  of  filthiness, 
in  which  the  fish  die,  poisoned  by  the  refuse  of  manufac- 
tures ? 

And  pure  air.  Is  it  impossible  to  hope  any  longer  that 
what  should  be  the  bright,  invisible  atmosphere,  which 
makes  it  a  luxury  to  breathe  the  breath  of  life  in  these  huge 
cities  in  w^hich  so  many  of  us  are  pent  up  through  life — 
is  it  too  late,  is  it  impossible,  for  Parliament  to  save  us 
from  the  foul  air  amidst  which  our  spirits  always  falter  in 
the  mist  caused  by  these  noxious  gases  vomited  by  privi- 
leged manufactures — which  yearly  cost  you  ^^2,500  merely 
to  replace  the  crumbling  away  of  your  new  Houses  of 
Parliament  ?  Is  even  the  Parliament  of  the  nation  power- 
less now  to  right  these  wrongs  to  our  teeming  multitudes, 
or,  as  in  the  Apocalypse,  disgusted  with  the  greed  of  an 
ignoble  race,  has  one  angel  of  God  poured  forth  his  vials 
upon  the  earth,  so  that  the  plague  spot  has  broken  forth  on 
all  the  worshippers  of  Mammon  ;  and  has  another  angel 
poured  forth  his  vial  on  our  fountains  and  rivers  of  water, 
so  that  they  have  been  turned  into  poison  ;  and  has  a  third 
angel  emptied  his  polluting  vial  into  the  air  in  which  we 
gasp,  so  that  over  half  of  England,  for  many  days,  men 
breathe  nothing  but  soot,  and  gaze  on  nothing  but  gloom  ? 
Often  it  seems  as  if  the  sun  were  turned  for  us  into  black- 
ness, and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  that  great  and 
terrible  day  of  the  Lord.  Is  it  beneath  the  dignity  of 
legislators  to  toil  for  these  high  ends?  Would  they  not 
be  more  useful  than  most  of  the  things  they  do  ?  Or  is 
this  nation  to  perish  with  the  curse  of  its  unlawful  desires, 
when,  as  one  has  said,  all  the  old  green  places  have  been 
monopolized,  when  all  the  sky  is  full  of  smoke,  and  the 
rivers  reek  with  poison  ;  when  forest  and  stream,  and  moor 
and  meadow,  are  banned  and  forbidden ;  when  every  gentle 
and  timid  being  of  brake  and  bush,  of  air  and  water,  has 
been  killed  because  it  robbed  men  of  a  berry  or  a  fruit  ; 
when  the  earth  is  one  vast  mill,  whose  children  hear  no 
sound  but  the  hiss  of  the  steam,  and  know  no  music  but 
the  roar  of  the  furnace  ;  when  the  old  sweet  sights,  and  the 
old,  sweet  songs,  and  the  old,  sweet  fall  of  midsummer 


THE  DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENTS.  195 


showers,  and  the  green  of  hedgerow  buds,  and  the  glow 
of  purple  heather,  and  the  notes  of  cuckoo  and  of  cushat, 
and  the  freedom  of  waste  and  wild,  are  things  dead  and 
remembered  no  more  ?  Then  the  world,  like  the  Eastern 
king,  will  perish  miserably  of  famine  and  of  drought,  with 
gold  in  its  stiffened  hands,  and  gold  upon  its  withered 
Tips  ;  gold  which  can  do  nothing  for  it,  and  mocks  it 
horribly  ;  gold  for  which  we  have  bartered  peace,  and 
holiness,  and  happiness  ;  gold  that  has  won  but  a  grave. 

But,  besides,  are  there  no  moral,  no  social  dangers  ?     I 
shall    not   ask  you  whether  the  condition  of  the  poor  is 
better  or  worse  than  it  was,    I  only  know  what  it  is.    None 
of  us  can  plead  ignorance  of  this  ;  for  if  we  have  never  seen 
it,  we  have  been  told   of  it  of  late  in  hundreds  of  voices. 
Your  leading  newspaper  has  said  that  the  people  who  live 
in  our  slums  and  rookeries,  to   call   them   by  the  hideous 
names  with  which  we  are  now  familiar,  are  really  examples 
of  the  retrogression  of  mankind  towards  savagery,  almost 
towards  the  condition  of  the  brute  creation.     In  their  filthy 
habits,  their  restlessness,  their  destructiveness,  their  love  for 
strong  drink,  their  cunning,  their  ferocity,  and  their  moral 
obliquity,  it  is  necessary  to  recognise  that  they  belonged  to 
a  different  type  from  that  which  is  possessed  by  reasonable 
men.    And  remember  that  in  the  brutality  of  these  criminal 
classes   multitudes  of  the   innocent  are  dragged  down  to 
misery.     It  is  not  to  die,  said  Thomas  Carlyle,  or  even  to 
die  hungry,  that  makes  a  man   wretched,  but  it  is  to  die 
slowly  alf  his  life  long  with  the  thought  that  he  lies  im- 
prisoned  by   an  infinite  injustice.     Can   we    find    nothing 
serious  to  think  of  in  the  recent  speech  of  one  of  the  most 
eminent   men  of  science,    who,  having    first    lived  in    the 
East-end  of  London,  and   then  having  travelled  all  round 
the  world,  deliberately  told    us    that,    contemplating    the 
supernatural   and  astonishing   deadliness  and  deadness  of 
these  poor  people's  lives,  with  no  amusement  except  the 
public-house,  with  nothing  but  miserable  toil,  rewarded  by 
slow  starvation,  he  should  deliberately  prefer  to  theirs  the 
life  of  a  savage  ;    and  that  this    state    of  things,    if    not 
amended,  would  be  a  great   Serbonian  bog,  which,  in  the 
long    run,  would    swallow    up    the    surface    crust    of   our 
civilization. 

Notice  too,  once  more,  the  boundless  superfluity  of  wealth 


196  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

by  which  this  grim  people  is  touched  and  jostled,  and  then 
say  whether  the  warning  voice  may  not  be  true  which  tells 
you  that  if  some  jar  or  shock  dislocate  the  system,  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  will  be  broken  up,  and  that  it  is 
not  the  deserts  and  forests  as  of  old,  but  roadsides  and  city 
slums  which  are  nursing  the  barbarians  which  may  be  to 
the  new  civilization  what  the  Hun  and  the  Vandal  were 
to  the  old.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  these  terrible  evils  are 
irremediable,  but  if  they  be  indeed  irremediable  be  sure  that 
they  will  be  fatal.  In  every  country,  said  a  living  states- 
man, you  find  the  nation  in  the  cottage ;  and  if  the 
light  of  your  legislation  does  not  shine  in  there,  your  states- 
manship is  a  failure,  and  your  system  is  a  mistake.  Indi- 
vidual effort,  individual  beneficence,  say  rather  the  love  of 
Christ  burning  in  individual  hearts,  has  done  something,  but 
without  state  aid  it  cannot  do  much  more.  The  social 
dangers  are  summed  up  in  the  words  vice  and  pauperism. 
Every  one  who  knows  anything  at  all  about  the  subject 
tells  you,  and  has  been  telling  you  for  fifty  years  ;  all  your 
judges  with  one  voice,  all  your  police,  all  your  gaolers,  all 
who  have  really  mixed  among,  and  seen  for  themselves, 
the  condition  of  the  poor,  are  telling  you,  that  the  chief 
cause,  both  of  vice  and  of  pauperism,  is  drink.  For  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  good  men,  stung  to  the  heart  by  pity, 
have  been  telling  you  to  stay  the  plague,  and  heal  the  cause 
of  drink, — as  yet  in  vain.  Here  is  one  thing  which  you 
might  do,  you  might  if  you  had  the  heart  to  do  it,  and  the 
courage  and  the  moral  insight  to  do  it ;  and  so  save  Eng- 
land from  what  the  ablest  prince  of  our  Royal  house  the 
other  day  designated  as  the  only  terrible  enemy  whom 
England  has  to  fear.  You  may  be  deceived  by  epigrams 
— you  may  be  afraid  of  wealthy  monopolists — you  may  be 
afraid  of  custom — you  may  be  paralysed  by  immoral 
acquiescence  in  long-continued  evils — you  may  be  eager 
about  political  combinations  which  neither  increase  our 
happiness  nor  improve  our  morals  ;  but  so  long  as  we  find 
ourselves  surrounding  the  minimum  of  strength  with  the 
glaring  maximum  of  licensed  temptation  to  work  the  curse 
and  ruin  of  men,  will  vice  multiply  and  pauperism  spread. 
We  plead  with  you  for  the  sake  of  our  country.  The  masses 
of  our  poor  countrymen  have  long  been  pleading  with  you 
to  save  them  from  their  miseries,  and  to  save  them  even 


THE  DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENTS,,  197 


from  themselves.  Will  you  once  more  lift  no  finger  to  help 
them  ?  Which  do  you  really  think  will  make  the  people 
better,  and  which  do  you  seriously  believe  will  add  to  their 
happiness  and  reduce  their  degradation  ?— the  possession  of 
some  forty-millionth  fraction  of  political  power,  or  some  of 
these  strong  and  simple  measures,  the  work  of  a  people 
which  fears  God,  which  might  rescue  them  from  the  in- 
tolerable and  interminable  malignity  of  corroding  vices. 
Other  nations  and  other  empires  have  fallen  each  in  turn, 
undermined  by  their  own  sins,  or  blasted  by  their  own  am- 
bition. They  have  been  choked  in  blood,  or  unmanned  by 
lasciviousness,  or  clogged  with  greed.  Where  is  the  cedar 
of  Assyria,  and  the  lion  of  Greece,  and  the  eagle  of  Rome  ? 
Did  the  gold  of  Spain  save  her,  or  the  fleet  of  Venice  ? 
What  has  happened  to  the  trampled  golden  lilies  of  France.'' 
And,  is  England  safe  except  by  her  faithfulness  to  the 
eternal  moral  law  1  "  Is  not  Calno  as  Carchemish  ?  Is  not 
Hamath  as  Arpad  ?  Is  not  Samaria  as  Damascus  ?  Shall 
I  not,  as  I  have  done  to  Samaria  and  her  idols,  so  do  to 
Jerusalem  and  to  her  idols," — yea,  and  to  England  and  to 
her  idols  ? 

Two  of  those  idols  have  to  be  destroyed,  let  me  but 
mention  in  conclusion.  One  is  the  idol  of  vested  interest 
in  national  wrongs.  In  the  days  of  the  slave  trade  some 
one  said  to  an  abolitionist,  "  What !  would  you  stand  be- 
tween a  man  and  his  vested  interests .?  "  "  I  started,"  he 
said,  "  as  if  one  had  trampled  on  my  grave,  and  exclaimed, 
*  A  vested  interest  in  a  human  being  ! '"  Let  it  be  under- 
stood, once  for  all,  that  there  can  be  no  vested  interests  in 
that  which  is  the  source  of  a  nation's  ruin,  and  a  nation's 
wrong.  Other  selfishness  may  be  as  intense,  but  none  is 
so  unblushing,  because  none  is  so  much  tolerated  as  the 
selfishness  of  monopolists  claiming  a  vested  interest  in 
public  infamy. 

And  the  other  is  the  idol  of  spurious  liberty,  which  thinks 
that  freedom  consists  in  unlimited  licence  to  do  wrong,  and 
that  we  ought  to  be  allowed  to  do  what  we  will  though 
the  result  may  be  the  injury  of  our  neighbours.  The  liberty 
to  do  wrong  is  the  mother  of  bondage.  No  man  is  free, 
and  no  nation  is  free,  which  is  free  from  righteousness,  and 
a  slave  to  vice.  The  impulse  of  appetite  is  slavery,  and  the 
obedience  to  salutary  restraint  is  the  only  liberty.     Till 


PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 


England  learns  this,  so  long  as  her  liberty  is  the  spurious 
idol  of  selfish  individual  licence,  her  glory  is  built  upon  the 
sand. 

"  Who  are  the  free  ? 
They  who  have  scorned  the  tyrant  and  his  rod, 
And  bowed  in  worship  unto  none  but  God  ; 
They  who  have  made  the  conqueror's  glory  dim, 
In  chain,  in  cell,  though  manacled  in  limb. 
Unwarped  by  prejudice,  unavved  by  wrong. 
Friends  to  the  weak,  and  fearless  of  the  strong  ; 
They  who  will  change  not  with  the  changing  hour, 
The  self-same  men  in  peril  as  in  power  ; 
True  to  the  law  of  right,  in  spite  of  frown, 
To  grant  another's  as  maintain  their  own  ; 
Foes  to  oppression,  wheresoe'er  it  be — 
These  are  the  proudly  free  ?  " 

This  is  what  the  sons  of  England  should  be.  This  is 
what  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  at  this  time  assembled, 
might  help  to  make  them.  Thus,  and  thus  only,  can  all 
things  be  so  ordered,  as  we  pray  by  "their  endeavours, 
upon  the  best  and  surest  foundations,  that  peace  and 
happiness,  truth  and  justice,  religion  and  piety,  may  be 
established  among  us  for  all  generations." 


XI.     The   Law   of  Temperance  Higher   than  the 
*      Rule     of    Total     Abstinence.      By   Rev.    Harry 
Jones,    M.A.,    Vicar  of  G?'eat  Barton,   Prebendary   of  St. 
Paul's. 

Drunkenness  must  be  reckoned  as  a  great  social  curse 
of  this  land.  It  is  the  greatest  which  can  be  anywise  freely 
spoken  of.  It  is  so  notoriously  mischievous  an  evil  that  no 
one  ventures  to  plead  for  or  defend  it.  Though  excuse 
may  sometimes  be  found  for  his  indulgence,  that  excess  in 
drink  which  makes  a  man  for  the  time  into  another  sort  of 
being,  not  to  be  trusted  as  man,  unfit  for  speech  or  act,  for 
work  or  play,  can  never  be  deemed  right.  The  worst 
drunkard,  the  man  who  deliberately  intoxicates  himself, 
would  not  like  to  be  judged  by  what  he  said  and  did  while 
he  was  drunk,  and  thus  he  virtually  admits  drunkenness  to 
be  a  state  of  degradation,  or  humiliating  ecstasy.  He  may, 
indeed,  so  indulge  his  appetite  as  to  lose  all  power  of  self- 


TEMPERANCE   HIGHER    THAN   ABSTINENCE.     199 

control,  and  rapidly  excuse  his  act,  when  the  thought  of 
restraint  presents  itself,  or  he  may  have  become  such  a 
slave  to  the  repeatedly- tasted  sensation  as  to  court  and 
hail  its  recurrence  greedily,  but  intervals  of  sobriety  arrive 
in  which  even  he  curses  his  own  curse. 

No  doubt  there  is  excuse  for  some  whose  homes  are 
narrow  and  foul.  Their  blood  is  starved.  Their  morning 
pulse  pleads  importunately  for  help.  People  who  have 
every  comfort  about  them,  who  eat  good  food  and  breathe 
good  air  in  roomy  houses,  should  be  the  last  to  rail  at  a 
poor  man  who  is  so  depressed  by  unwholesome  monotony 
of  business  and  continuous  home  stench  as  to  seek  relief  in 
alcohol,  and  so  contract  the  habit  of  drinking  to  excess. 
But  even  in  this  case,  if  he  is  thus  mastered,  he  is  willing: 
to  allow  that  excess  brings  mischief  along  with  it.  How- 
ever bad  a  home  may  be,  drunkenness  makes  it  worse. 
However  trying  a  trade  may  be,  it  becomes  harder  to 
follow  when  a  man  has  weakened  himself  by  intoxication. 
I  wish  there  were  a  mission  against  the  material  misery  of 
poor  homes,  and  the  needlessly  exhausting  circumstances 
of  some  trades.  I  wish  men  would  totally  abstain  from 
any  agreement  with  a  landlord  who  did  not  produce  a 
warrant  from  an  accepted  officer  of  health  that  his  house 
was  in  good  sanitary  condition.  As  it  is,  many  sin  and 
suffer  in  ignorance,  and,  both  among  the  rich  and  poor, 
need  to  have  their  eyes  opened  to  their  defiance  of  God's 
laws  of  health. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  attempt  the  drawing  of  a 
repulsive  picture  which  shall  display  the  drunkard's  home 
and  household,  nor  to  dwell  upon  the  mischief  done  to  his 
business,  credit,  and  health.  Examples  of  misery  and  ruin 
arising  from  excess  in  drink,  in  every  class  of  society,  are 
too  familiar  to  all.  In  each  man's  circle  of  acquaintance 
there  are  sure  to  be  some  who  have  destroyed  their  power, 
position,  and  prospects  by  habits  of  intemperance. 

I  would,  however,  notice  one  form  of  excess  which  is 
widely  committed,  and  grievously  harmful,  but  which 
does  not  cause  the  same  shameful  offence  as  when  a  man 
gets  openly  and  grossly  drunk,  and  in  that  condition  is 
a  spectacle  of  humiliating  degradation.  I  refer  to  that 
species  of  sot  which  does  not  drink  enough  at  any  one 
time  to  destroy  consciousness,  but  into  which  the  stream 


PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 


of  alcohol  is  continually  trickling.  Here  the  man  takes 
"drops"  rather  than  draughts.  He  is  not  caught  wholly 
incapable.  He  is  able,  after  a  fashion,  and  for  a  while,  to 
give  attention  to  his  business.  He  does  not  create  a 
riotous  uproar.  He  is  not  seen  reeling  in  the  streets. 
But  silently,  selfishly,  almost  respectably,  he  is  poisoning 
the  powers  of  his  life.  Here  is  a  prevailing  form  of  intem- 
perance, which,  though  it  may  not  shock  society  with 
examples  of  disgusting  helplessness  or  brutal  violence,  is 
yet  a  great  social  curse,  and  may  really  be  classed  under 
the  head  of  drunkenness  as  well  as  the  more  degrading 
forms  of  this  evil. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  associations  as  well  as 
individuals  have  arisen  so  profoundly  penetrated  with  a 
sense  of  the  mischief  that  comes  from  excess  in  drink  as  to 
lose  all  patience  with  the  matter,  and  distinctly  to  affirm 
that  no  real  cure  can  be  found  for  the  evil  except  in  total 
abstinence  from  all  kind  and  strength  of  alcoholic  mix- 
ture. This  is,  anyhow,  intelligible  ground  to  take  ;  and 
such  as  are  not  total  abstainers  are  able,  honestly  enough, 
to  apprehend  and  honour  the  motive  of  those  who  look  at 
the  evil  in  question  as  it  appears  to  the  advocate  of  com- 
plete prohibition.  He  should  be  treated  with  respect,  not 
ridicule.  Of  course  the  man  who  rules  his  own  life  and 
tries  to  rule  that  of  others  by  hard  and  fast  lines,  and  is 
occasionally  unscrupulous  in  the  importunity  with  which 
he  seeks  for  proselytes  to  his  inflexible  regulations,  is  likely 
sometimes  to  find  himself  in  a  position  which  seems  absurd 
to  others,  and  which  may  be  allowed  to  provoke  a  smile 
in  them  ;  but  genuine  total  abstinence  is  no  mere  laughing 
matter. 

Some  men  cannot  be  temperate.  They  have  gradually 
lowered  themselves  to  a  state  in  which  the  merest  taste  of 
alcohol  drives  them  to  break  down  all  purpose  of  modera- 
tion, however  sincere.  But  they  can  bring  themselves 
wholly  to  bar  their  lips  against  its  entrance.  And  they 
are  obviously  much  helped  by  such  societies  as  I  have 
alluded  to.  The  power  of  sympathy  is  incalculable.  A 
man  who  has  been  drinking  to  excess,  and  cannot  mod- 
erate his  cups,  though  he  may  be  able  to  put  them  aside 
altogether,  finds  the  performance  of  his  resolution  easier 
as  he  is  joined  in  the  effort  by  men  of  like  weakness  with 


TEMPERANCE  HIGHER    THAN  ABSTINENCE.     201 

himself.  Possibly,  even,  he  cannot  alone  unaided  pass 
from  excess  into  abstinence  any  more  than  into  temperance, 
though  the  former  be  the  easier  step  of  the  two.  Then  he 
is  much  helped  by  the  hand  of  such  as  had  fallen,  but 
afterwards  stood  upright.  Anyhow,  it  is  a  great  protection 
for  him  to  belong  to  a  society  where  he  is  supported  by  all 
the  members  in  his  determination  to  have  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  power  which  had  overcome  and  humiliated 
them  and  him.  If  he  finds  it  better  to  desert,  than  to  dis- 
obey the  tempter,  he  feels  his  determination  more  prac- 
ticable when  shared  by  an  army  of  recusants.  Thus, 
though  I  look  on  temperance  as  a  higher  condition  of  life 
than  that  which  peremptorily  denies  every  one  the  use  of 
any  stimulant  whatever,  lest  it  should  be  used  to  excess, 
all  reasonable  men  must  admit  that  total- abstinence 
societies  are  most  valuable  as  an  escape  for  the  intemperate 
who  cannot  pass  from  excess  into  moderation.  We  may 
be  thankful  that  they  exist,  though  we  may  be  radically 
convinced  of  the  unfairness  with  which  some  insist  on 
thrusting  their  treatment  on  the  sound  as  well  as  on  the 
sick.  However,  fortunately,  all  is  not  fanaticism  which 
fanatics  have  laid  hold  of. 

Total  abstinence  societies,  moreover,  not  only  find  a 
harbour  of  refuge  for  the  sot,  but  they  are  national  protests 
against  a  great  national  sin  ;  for  though,  no  doubt,  if  the 
truth  could  be  told,  more  would  be  found  to  be  laid  at  the 
door  of  alcohol  than  it  deserves,  it  is  often  perverted  into 
an  engine  of  terrible  mischief,  and  drunkenness  may  truly 
be  called  a  great  national  sin.  Against  this,  associations 
of  total  abstainers,  feeling  safe  only  in  abstinence,  are 
national  protests.  They  are  historical  reproductions.  They 
represent,  in  our  day,  the  religious  societies  of  the  early 
and  middle  ages.  In  those  times  there  was  an  abundance 
of  open  licentiousness  and  glaring  social  depravity  which 
it  is  not  easy  for  some  to  reaUze  now — though  society  be 
not  yet  purified.  Thus  there  arose  bands  of  men  and 
women  who  virtually  said,  "  We  will  deny  ourselves  all  the 
enjoyments  of  domestic  life.  We  will  vow  celibacy.  We 
will  wholly  shut  ourselves  ofi"  from  an  evil  world.  Common, 
even  home,  society  is  so  degraded  that  we  will  withdraw 
from  it  altogether.  The  family  is  so  tainted,  the  honour 
of  woman  is  so  insecure,  that  we  will  deny  ourselves  the 


202  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

pleasures  of  family  life.  We  will  stand  apart  from  our 
fellows ;  mateless,  childless.  We  will  drop  even  our 
names,  and  be  brothers  and  sisters  in  a  separate  and  pe- 
culiar sense.  Thus  will  we  fight  against  excess.  Thus, 
vexed  with  the  filthy  conversation  of  the  wicked,  will  we 
make  a  stand,  and,  instead  of  attempting  to  live  in  do- 
mestic purity,  deny  ourselves  all  domestic  intercourse,  and 
band  ourselves  together  against  that  ordinary  social  life 
which  has  become  full  of  degrading  abuses." 

This  was,  really,  the  protest  made  by  the  monks  and 
nuns  of  early  ages  ;  and  while  society  was  roughly  impure 
and  unsafe,  we  appreciate  this  form  of  remonstrance  and 
escape,  involving,  as  it  often  did,  much  self-denial.  We 
may  think  that  households,  sturdy  in  their  pureness,  might 
have  been  better  protests  ;  and  indeed  they  have  shown 
greater  vitality ;  they  have  survived  long  after  the  dis- 
appearance of  religious  houses.  But  these  last  did  a  grand 
work.  They  made  a  strong  protest  till  the  day  came  when 
they  were  bound  to  pass  away  ;  in  some  instances  exhibit- 
ing the  very  kinds  of  impurities  from  which  they  were 
created  to  provide  an  escape,  and  indulging  in  excesses 
which  it  was  their  original  mission  to  restrain  or  make 
impossible. 

Now  I  look  on  associations  of  total  abstainers  as  occupy- 
ing, in  the  present  day,  a  similar  place  in  the  community 
to  that  claimed  by  the  early  religious  houses,  and  really 
filled  by  them  whilst  they  remained  pure  and  self-deny hig. 
They  afford  an  escape  for  such  as  cannot  trust  themselves, 
and  they  give  scope  to  the  zeal  which  sometimes  passes 
into  fanaticism,  but  for  which,  in  every  people,  there  should 
be  working  room.  Teetotallers  are  the  real  modern  monks 
and  nuns.  They  are  the  present  conspicuous  takers  of  life- 
long vows.  Still,  though  we  may  credit  them  with  a  keen 
perception  of  social  abuses  and  a  certain  self-denial,  and 
though  they  hold  out  a  hand  to  such  as  struggle  in  the 
slough  of  excess,  my  ideal  of  an  excellent  world  is  not 
composed  entirely  of  them,  any  more  than  of  monks  and 
nuns.  For  that  which  is  a  wise  rule  and-  precaution  for 
some  must  not  be  forced  into  a  law  for  all.  1  repeat  that 
a  nation  of  total  abstainers,  with  not  one  temperate  man 
among  them,  is  not  the  highest  ideal  of  national  excellence. 
A  wholly  temperate  people,  having  realized  that  dominion 


TEMPERANCE   HIGHER    THAN  ABSTINENCE.    203 

over  the  fruits  of  the  earth  which  God  gave  to  man,  is 
really  the  loftiest  aim  of  humanity.  Indeed,  a  nation 
entirely  ruled  by,  and  obedient  to,  an  imperative  law, 
excluding,  e.g.  the  use  of  any  stimulant,  would,  I  fear, 
endanger  that  perception  of  tolerance  which  marks  national 
health.  Indeed,  we  have  an  example,  not  altogether  wide 
of  the  mark,  in  the  Turks.  They  are  a  nation  of  professed 
total  abstainers.  They  are  also  fanatics.  Probably  their 
fanaticism  is  deepened  because  they  have  sought  to  govern 
themselves  by  rules  and  regulations  instead  of  great  prin- 
ciples capable  of  adaptation  and  application  to  the  ex- 
perience of  years  and  the  discoveries  of  time. 

One  of  the  risks  that  threaten  the  future  of  any  societies 
which  take  some  stiff  social  rule  as  the  basis  of  their  exis- 
tence is  that  of  their  becoming  radically  intolerant.  They 
are  in  danger  of  becoming  so  pleased  with  and  proud  of 
their  exclusiveness  as  to  lose  their  original  singleness  of 
character  and  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  They  may  become 
puffed  up,  and  eventually  spoiled,  like  the  religious  houses 
I  have  spoken  of  It  is  possible  to  exchange  carnal  in- 
dulgence for  spiritual  pride,  and  then  the  man  or  the 
society  comes  clearly  under  the  warning  "  Let  him  that 
thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall."  Then  the 
old  devil  that  was  turned  out  possibly  transforms  himself 
and  returns  w^ith  fresh  power  of  mischief  in  his  train. 

In  short,  no  mere  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  all  time,  and 
very  seldom  for  the  whole  of  a  man's  life.  A  rule,  however 
severe,  may  be  recognised  as  useful  and  wholesome  for  a 
season,  like  that  given  by  St.  Paul  for  the  conduct  of  a 
particular  society  in  which  he  said  that  even  marriage  was 
unadvisable  ;  but  there  is  a  risk  in  the  procedure  of  all 
restrictive  associations,  whatever  purpose  or  aim  they  set 
before  themselves.  They  certainly  call  marked  public 
attention  to  the  danger  of  excess.  They  help  the  weak  to 
escape  it.  They  may  be  and  are  useful  for  a  time,  but 
cannot,  without  eventual  loss  of  true  Christian  liberty,  be 
made  bodies  of  perpetual  obligation.  They  do  their  work. 
They  are  corporate  protests  against  popular  evil.  They 
are  refui^es  for  the  weak,  but  must  not  be  made  into  prisons 
for  the  strong.  They  provide  wholesome  restraint  for  such 
as  cannot  restrain  themselves,  but  must  not  be  forfjed  into 
chains  for  those  who  are  capable  of  freedom.     They  assert 


204  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

that  certain  excesses  are  intolerable,  but  they  themselves 
must  not  be  allowed  to  grow  into  centres  of  intolerance. 

There  is  a  higher  course  than  the  complete  prohibition 
of  anything  that  is  easily  capable  of  abuse;  1  mean  the 
law  of  Temperance,  which  applies  not  merely  to  the  use 
of  drink,  but  of  all  that  God  has  given  to  man.  All  our 
tastes,  appetites  and  passions  are  obviously  implanted  in  us 
to  be  exercised.  There  is  no  shame  in  the  possession  and 
employment  of  our  bodily  senses.  Shame  comes  in  with 
their  abuse.  We  become  degraded  as  we  do  not  control 
them,  but  allow  them  to  control  us.  They  are  given  to  be 
our  servants,  not  our  masters.  Cases  may  arise  in  which 
it  is  needful  to  take  the  most  extreme  measures  with  an 
appetite  which  the  man  feels  to  be  too  strong  for  him. 
But  the  man  who  has  power  is  bound  to  exercise  that 
power.  If  thine  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out  and  cast  it 
from  thee  ;  but  surely  do  not  pluck  it  out  unless  it  be  a 
cause  of  offence,  though  others  so  look  on  what  they  ought 
not  as  to  deserve  blindness.  If  thy  hand  offend  thee,  cut 
it  off  and  cast  it  from  thee  ;  but  remember  that  the  man 
thus  saved  is  after  all,  at  best,  a  maimed  man.  It  is  well 
to  save  the  whole  body  at  the  loss  of  so  precious  a  gift  of 
God  as  the  eye  or  the  hand,  but  it  is  better  to  use  the  eye 
and  hand  as  God  would  have  them  used.  It  is  well  to 
save  the  ship  at  the  cost  of  the  cargo,  but  it  is  better  to 
bring  both  into  the  haven  where  you  would  be. 

The  true  saint,  the  righteous  man,  is  he  who  uses  body, 
soul  and  spirit  truly,  righteously.  Holiness  is  not  eccen- 
tricity. It  is  not  best  seen  in  exclusiveness  or  asceticism. 
The  body  fulfils  its  purpose  best  when  had  in  such  subjec- 
tion that  it  obeys  all  orders,  not  when  it  is,  in  some  respects, 
so  prohibited  from  obedience  as  to  be  therein  incapable  of 
disobedience.  You  may  keep  a  man  from  some  kinds  of 
mischief  by  locking  him  up,  and  occasionally  he  may  be  so 
mischievous  that  he  must  be  locked  up.  But  we  do  not 
imprison  a  man  who  has  done  no  wrong  for  fear  lest  he 
may  be  tempted  to  be  hurtful.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that 
because  A  burns  his  fingers  at  the  fire,  B  may  not  be  per- 
mitted to  warm  his  hands.  But  if  he  cannot  be  kept,  or 
cannot  keep  himself  from  burning  his  fingers,  he  had  better 
sit  in  the  cold.  We  demand  liberty  of  action  for  those  who 
have  not  abused  their  freedom.     That  is  the  great  law,  and 


TEMPERANCE  HIGHER    THAN  ABSTINENCE.     205 


surely  it  holds  in  the  case  of  those  who  use  any  of  God's 
gifts  in  moderation.  The  knife  is  for  the  diseased,  not  for 
the  whole  ;  medicine  is  for  the  sick,  not  for  the  sound.  This 
is  common  sense  and  Christian  truth.  "  I  came  not,"  said 
Jesus,  "to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance." 

We  will  give  our  measure  of  respect — some  good  men 
are  able  to  feel  more  of  it  than  others— to  those  who,  in 
all  sincerity,  forego  the  legitimate  use  of  anything  because 
they  think  they  ought  so  to  deny  themselves,  and  that  the 
cause  of  humanity  is  eventually  benefited  by  their  self- 
denial.  If  a  man  thinks  so,  let  him  bravely  live  up  to  his 
thought.  But  let  us  admit  the  presence  and  force  of  a  yet 
higher  thought  and  deeper  conviction,  and  -believe  that  a 
man  who  rules  himself  by  the  great  principles  of  righteous- 
ness and  temperance,  and  looks  to  God  for  light  and  strength 
so  to  live,  is  really  in  a  higher  condition  of  life,  both  as  a 
man,  and  an  example.  Possibly  he  may  be  flouted, 
especially  by  the  religious  world,  as  merely  self-indulgent. 
Thus  Jesus  was  sneered  at  when  the  question  of  total 
abstinence  was  talked  of  in  His  day  :  "  Behold  "  the  people 
said  •'  a  man  gluttonous  and  a  winebibber."  And  He  felt 
the  sneer.  He  always  suffered  when  tried.  He  was  even, 
on  a  rare  occasion,  tempted — for  the  taunt  was  specious — 
to  defend  Himself  with  the  retort  "  But  Wisdom  is  justified 
of  her  children."  We  may,  indeed,  believe  that  such  as 
would  honestly  use  this  liberty  of  Christ  in  the  conduct  of 
their  own  lives  are  thus  justified. 

But  as  we  claim  a  higher  state  than  subjection  to  any  code 
of  expediency,  as  we  strive  to  rise  above  the  materialistic 
rule  "  touch  not,  taste  not,"  let  us  recollect  that  we  claim  a 
state  which  is  very  high  indeed.  It  is  not  the  easier  course. " 
To  some  it  is  the  strait  path,  while  to  others  the  life  of  rules 
is  the  broad  way.  It  is  simpler,  and  may  be  easier  to  kill 
than  to  command  ;  and  sometimes  the  suicide  of '  an 
appetite  is  needful.  But  power  over  the  whole  being  is 
best ;  it  is  nearest  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  Christ, 
whose  liberty  is  not  spiritual  licence,  but  such  freedom  from 
mere  ceremonialism  as  enables  us  to  know  and  do  the 
will  of  God  among  the  manifold  temptations  to  intemper- 
ance, in  word  and  deed,  which  surround  us  all. 


2o6  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 


XII.  Individual  Responsibility.  By  The  Ven. 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S.  ''^  PIoiv  long  shall  the 
land  mourn  V'—^Y.^.  xii.  4. 

The  thoughts  of  us  all  are,  probably,  more  or  less  ex- 
ercised with  that  shocking  series  of  crimes  which  horrified 
and  agitated  us  yesterday  afternoon.  The  attempts  of 
these  dynamitards  are  one  of  the  most  frightful  signs  of  the 
times.  In  their  aimless  malignity,  in  their  atrocious  reck- 
lessness, in  the  extent  of  alarm  and  of  burning  indignation 
which  they  kindle,  in  the  brutality  of  hatred  which  they 
exhibit,  in  the  deadliness  of  criminal  insult  to  the  Majesty 
of  England  who  has  desired  with  all  her  heart  to  be  just 
and  generous  to  their  country,  they  are  the  crimes  not  of 
men  but  of  human  fiends.  These  cold-blooded  murderers 
of  the  innocent  are  the  shame  and  abhorrence  of  mankind, 
the  common  enemies  of  all  the  race.  God  has  over- ruled 
and  frustrated  the  possible  results  of  conspiracies  so 
devilish  ;  but  some  of  the  blackest  crimes  which  history 
record,  look  pale  before  the  insane  wickedness  of  these. 
Whatever  else  may  be  their  message  they  surely  call  upon 
us  as  a  nation  to  watch  and  be  sober,  to  seek  God  while 
He  may  be  found,  to  repent  in  dust  and  ashes  for  our  sins. 
I  cannot  now  speak  further  of  these.  It  is  my  duty  this 
morning  to  plead  the  claims  of  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Society,  and  that  means  that  I  must  try  to 
bring  before  you  once  more  the  deadly  evils  which  are  now 
being  wrought  in  this  land,  and  which  for  more  than  a 
century  have  been  wrought  on  this  land,  by  its  national 
temptation  of  drink,  by  its  national  sin  of  drunkenness. 
My  task  is  neither  an  easy  nor  a  pleasant  one — not  easy, 
because  I  have  often  had  to  speak  on  this  subject  before ; 
not  pleasant,  because  it  never  can  be  pleasant  to  touch  on 
facts  which  fill  one  of  the  darkest  pages  of  human  ex- 
perience. On  such  a  subject  I  have  nothing  new  to  tell 
you.  All  eyes  may  read,  all  hearts  estimate,  the  awful 
evidence  which  is  accumulated  day  by  day  in  the  records 
of  misery  and  crime.  It  might  well  seem  as  if,  on  this 
subject,  the  conscience  of  the  nation  had  become  hard  with 
a  terrible  callosity,  and  needed  the  probing  of  some  terrible 
calamity  j  as  if  the  day  of  warning  had   passed  ineffectu- 


INDIVIDUAL  RESPONSIBILITY.    .  207 

ally  by,  and  nothing  remained   but   to   await   the   day   of 
retribution. 

I.  To  trace  the  effects  of  drink — to  set  before  you  the 
issue  and  outcome  of  our  present  system,  with  its  making 
of  ill  deeds  by  the  sight  of  means  to  do  them  ;  to  watch  the 
ever  widening  ripples  of  fire  on  this  great  lake  of  ruin — we 
need  never,  alas !  go  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  parish. 
People  who  talk  of  "exaggeration  "  in  this  matter  talk 
with  inexcusable  ignorance.  The  evils  are  always  close 
beside  us,  too  glaring  and  too  terrible  to  be  ignored.  Here, 
even  in  your  own  parish  of  4,000  souls,  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Abbey,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  short  years  I  have  seen  in  drink  and 
drunkenness — again  and  again,  and  day  after  day — the 
direct  cause  of  the  most  foul  brutality,  and  the  most 
amazing  wretchedness.  I  have  seen  widows  who  have 
become  widows  through  drink,  and  children  fatherless 
through  drink,  and  homes  desolate  through  drink,  and 
suicides,  and  murder,  and  deaths  by  delirium  tremens,  and 
the  sacrifice  of  children,  and  brutal  assults  of  husbands  on 
their  wives,  and  sons  on  their  mothers,  and  pecuniary  loss, 
and  individual  ruin,  and  spiritual  wreck,  and  family  de- 
struction, and  social  degradation,  and  places  where  human 
beings  live  made  worse  than  the  lairs  of  wild  beasts — and 
all  through  drink  !  And  to  know  what  drink  and  the 
drink  system  is  doing  in  England,  you  must  multiply  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  this  which  is  daily  going  on  within 
the  limits  of  a  single  parish,  until  you  have  a  festering 
mass  of  crime,  lunacy,  and  despair,  and  guilt,  and  disease, 
and  anguish  such  as  no  imagination  can  conceive  and  no 
tongue  name — a  festering  mass  of  sin,  and  shame,  and 
curse  ;  which  your  own  Prime  Minister  has  told  you  pro- 
duces results  more  deadly,  because  more  continuous,  than 
those  of  war,  famine,  and  pestilence  combined.  And 
against  this  evil  demon  which  glares  in  the  midst  of  us, 
and  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  yearly,  in  our  very  sight,  slays 
silently,  yet  with  intolerable  and  interminable  malignity, 
its  tens  of  thousands  of  miserable  victims — against  this 
evil  spirit,  against  this  pestilent  and  rotten  system,  thou- 
sands have  appealed.  There  is  scarcely  a  Judge  on  the 
Bench  who  has  not  told  the  nation  in  his  most  solenm 
tones — there  is  scarcely  a  Recorder;  or  Prison  Chaplain,  or 


2o8  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

Vicar  of  any  large  parish,  who  has  not  emphatically  de- 
clared, that  the  present  drink  system,  and  its  reckless 
multiplication  of  public-houses,  means  on  a  vast  scale  the 
injury  of  the  community;  and  yet,  year  after  year,  and 
decade  after  decade,  not  a  finger  is  lifted  to  provide  and 
adequate  remedy,  till  even  a  fool  can  see  that  the  pleasant 
vices  of  the  nation  are  being  turned  into  her  terrible  and 
cruel  scourge  ;  and  it  has  come  to  this — that  England  must 
amend  her  ways — that  she  must  get  rid  of  this  curse  and 
crime,  or  she  must  gradually  perish  by  the  class  of  paupers 
and  criminals  who  are  poisoning  her  national  life,  and  who, 
so  long  as  our  present  drink  system  continues,  will  remain 
untouched  by  the  amenities  of  civilization  and  much  more 
by  the  influences  of  religious  faith. 

2.  I  cannot  express — I  never  have  been  able  to  express 
— half  so  forcibly  as  it  should  be  done,  the  results  which 
force  themselves  upon  my  mind  from  the  long  and  re- 
peated observation  of  the  universal  horror  and  destruction 
caused  not  here  only,  but  in  India,  in  Africa,  in  Australia, 
in  America,  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  all  over  the  world, 
alike  of  civilization  and  barbarism,  by  this  master  fiend  of 
Intemperance.  From  London,  from  Liverpool,  from 
Glasgow,  from  Dublin,  from  New  York,  from  San  Fran- 
cisco, from  Melbourne,  from  the  Mauritius,  from  Mada- 
gascar, alike  from  Scandinavia  and  from  Switzerland, 
alike  from  the  banks  of  the  Congo,  and  of  the  Hudson, 
rise  the  groans  of  the  ruined  and  the  perishing  against  this 
Moloch,  on  whose  altar  we  offer  as  holocausts  the  bodies 
and  the  souls  of  men  for  whom  Christ  died.  The  evidence, 
if  only  you  would  take  the  trouble  to  regard  it,  is  immense, 
accumulated,  damning.  The  defenders  and  monopolists  of 
the  drink  system  cannot  refute  it — never  attempt  to  refute 
it.  They  know  that  there  is  not  a  cask  of  the  ardent 
spirits  which  they  sell  which  does  not  contain  in  it  a  freight 
of  potential  misery,  and  which  may  not  do,  more  effectually 
than  any  other  fiend  could  do  it,  the  work  of  hell.  They 
rely  on  paltry  sophisms  about  liberty  and  the  rights  of  the 
minority.  Liberty !  as  if  liberty  meant  the  unlimited' 
power  of  doing  wrong  !  Liberty  !  as  though  liberty  meant 
the  leaving  defenceless  of  poor  besotted  victims  who  have 
palsied  the  very  will  to  protect  themselves  !  The  rights  of 
the  minority  !  as  though,  in  these  hard  days,  the  rights  of 


INDIVIDUAL  RESPONSIBILITY.  209 

the  minority  included  the  right  to  burden  the  sober,  the 
honest,  and  the  thrifty,  with  the  intolerable  burdens  en- 
tailed upon  them  by  the  crime,  the  infamy,  and  the 
wretchedness  to  which  they  inevitably  doom  the  weakest 
and  the  worst  You  might  as  well  talk  of  protecting  the 
vested  interests  of  a  cancer,  as  protecting  the  existing  con- 
dition of  a  system  which,  in  the  language  of  the  President 
of  one  of  its  own  Defence  Leagues,  gives  us  at  least  64,000 
too  many,  out  of  our  107,337  licensed  public-houses,  of 
which  he  describes  some  as  "seething  hells  of  vice,  immor- 
ality, and  crime."  Every  one  is  crying  out  that  trade  is 
depressed  ;  that  it  is  hard  even  for  honest  men  to  get  a 
living.  Why  is  it  hard  ?  I  will  tell  you  with  confidence 
one  reason.  It  is  because  we  have  to  support  in  the 
United  Kingdom  1,000,000  paupers,  of  which  very  few 
would  have  been  paupers  but  for  drink.  It  is  because  the 
nation  yearly  spends  in  drink  a  sum  which  would  be 
enough  to  give  each  of  these  1,000,000  paupers  an  annuity 
of  i^ioo  a  year.  It  is  because  the  working  classes  alone 
spend  at  least  ^^36,000,000  every  year — as  much  as  all  that 
they  pay  for  rent — in  drink.  Talk  of  luxury !  The  de- 
magogue and  the  socialist  rail  at  the  luxury  of  the  rich  ; 
and  all  luxury  is  an  evil  ;  and  the  days  are  coming,  yea, 
have  now  come,  when  the  duty  of  perfect  simplicity  and 
stern  self-denial  will  be  incumbent  on  every  class  of  the 
community.  But  I,  who  have  often  spoken  plainly  enough 
of  the  faults  of  the  rich,  declare  that  their  luxury  is  in  no 
respect  so  deadly  and  so  outrageous  as  that  of  the  drunken 
poor.  There  is  many  a  working  man  in  these  streets,  many 
a  cabman,  many  a  labourer,  who  spends,  every  day  of  his 
life,  on  drink,  a  sum  which  I  could  not  afford,  and  which  I 
should  think  it  criminally  luxurious  and  disgracefully 
extragavant  in  myself  to  spend.  And  when  these  drinkers 
and  drunkards  thus  poison  their  very  lives  and  their  very 
souls  by  wallowing  in  the  depths  of  self-indulgence,  they 
will  come  and  clamour  for  charities,  and  we,  out  of  the 
sweat  of  our  brow,  shall  have  to  pay  for  the  prisons  which 
punish  these  atrocities,  and  the  workhouses  in  which  they 
end  their  worthless  and  wasted  days.  Here  is  a  specimen 
— one  of  hundreds.  At  the  police  court  a  married  woman 
(and  the  case  is  not  at  all  uncommon)  makes  her  sixty- 
second  appearance  for  drunkenness  and  wilful  damage;  she 

r 


2IO  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

is  the  daughter  of  a  man  now  in  the  workhouse,  who  has 
undergone  more  than  lOO  terms  of  imprisonment  for 
drunkenness,  and  whose  single  family  of  shame  and  worth- 
lessness  has  cost  the  ratepayers  of  his  parish  over;^i,ooo. 
We  pay  this  money,  thus  miserably  wasted,  and  who  profits 
by  the  manufacture  of  these  wretched  drunkards  ?  Some 
one,  I  suppose,  must  profit  by,  some  must  gain  their  wealth 
from,  a  system  which  to  m^any  means  childhood  without 
innocence,  youth  without  shame,  manhood  without  honour  ; 
from  a  system  which  involves  the  plunder  of  many  a  home, 
and  the  starvation  of  many  a  little  one  ;  which  ministers, 
in  some  at  least  of  its  patrons,  to  every  vile  and  vicious 
passion  and  propensity ;  which  makes  drunkards,  and 
thieves,  and  embezzlers,  and  gamblers,  and  wife-beaters 
and  murderers  ;  which  brutalises  and  degrades,  which  de- 
bauches, impoverishes,  and  injures,  if  not  (as  a  leading 
American  newspaper  has  said)  all  who  are  brought  into 
contact  with  it,  yet  the  multitudes  who  succumb  to  its 
temptation  and  become  its  victims.  The  prosperity  of 
the  drink  trade  means  the  misery  of  the  people  by  which 
it  thrives. 

3.  In  these  later  days  tens  of  thousands  of  Englishmen 
and  of  English  women,  and  a  very  large  number  of  the 
Clergy  of  all  denominations,  have  become  total  abstainers, 
and  most  of  them  have  become  so  because  they  hate  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  that  which,  from  the  days  of 
Noah  down  to  this  day,  has  proved  so  blighting  a  curse 
to  millions  of  their  fellow  men.  They  have  become  total 
abstainers  because  they  believe  that  any  form  of  alcohol 
is  needless  for  those  in  health,  and  because  they  can  furnish 
proofs  to  show  that,  while  their  main  wish  is  to  help  and 
influence  others  by  their  example,  they  themselves,  in 
every  normal  case,  gain  rather  than  lose  by  total  absti- 
nence— gain  in  purse,  in  health,  in  strength,  in  longevity, 
in  clearness  and  peace  of  mind.  But  I  would  remove  a 
misconception.  We  who  are  abstainers  do  not  dictate  to 
others ;  to  the  untempted,  to  the  old,  to  those  who  are  in 
weak  health,  to  all  we  say — With  your  moderate  use  of 
stimulants  we  have  neither  the  right  nor  the  wish  in  any 
way  to  interfere.  Only  this  we  say,  that  we  do  not  repent 
of  our  decision,  because  we  know  that  tens  of  thousands, 
and  in  the  world's  history  miUions   of  mankind,  have    had 


INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  211 

to  rue  the  effects  of  drink  in  their  own  persons,  and  in  the 
persons  of  those  whom  their  example  has  influenced.  I 
will  give  you  an  instance  of  each  kind.  Through  one 
single  common  lodging  house,  in  one  of  the  London  slums 
through  which  men  and  women  file  into  the  workhouse, 
recently  passed  a  paymaster  in  the  Royal  Navy,  a  Cam- 
bridge man,  a  master  of  the  hounds  who  had  once  inherited 
a  fortune,  a  physician's  son  (himself  a  doctor),  a  Sunday 
School  Superintendent,  a  member  of  the  Stock  Exchange, 
a  clergyman  who  had  taken  high  honours,  the  brother  of 
the  Vicar  of  a  large  London  Parish,  the  brother  of  a  scholar 
of  European  reputation,  whose  wife  also  was  drinking  her- 
self to  death,  and  whose  three  beautiful  children  were 
rescued  by  friends  from  a  miserable  den  in  the  neighbour- 
hood— themselves,  alas  !  but  too  likely  to  suffer  from  the 
awful  heredity  of  crime.  So  much  for  personal  peril  in  all 
classes.  And  is  example  nothing.?  A  father  tells  us  how 
he  once  started  alone  to  climb  a  steep  and  perilous  hill, 
purposely  choosing  a  time  when  his  children  were  at  play, 
and  when  he  thought  that  they  would  not  notice  his  ab- 
sence. He  was  climbing  a  precipitous  path,  when  he  was 
startled  by  hearing  a  little  voice  shout,  "  Father,  take  the 
safest  path,  for  I  am  following  you  ; "  and  on  looking  down 
he  saw  that  his  little  boy  had  followed  him,  and  was 
already  in  danger  ;  and  he  trembled  lest  the  child's  feet 
should  slip  before  he  could  get  to  them,  and  grasp  the 
warm  little  hand.  "  Years  have  passed  since  then,"  he 
writes,  "but  though  the  danger  has  passed  the  little  fellow's 
cry  has  never  left  me.  It  taught  me  a  lesson,  the  full 
force  of  which  I  had  never  known  before.  It  showed  me 
the  power  of  our  unconscious  influence,  and  I  saw  the 
terrible  possibility  of  our  leading  those  around  us  to  ruin, 
without  intending  or  knowing  it,  and  the  lesson  I  learnt 
that  morning  I  am  anxious  to  impress  upon  all  to  whom 
my  words  may  come."  Again  I  ask,  Is  example  nothing  ? 
Let  me  give  you  another  instance.  The  other  day  at  a 
meeting  a  clergyman  got  up  and  won  the  usual  applause 
by  the  usual  deplorable  platitudes  about  alcohol  being  a 
good  creature  of  God  and  so  forth.  When  he  had  ended, 
there  rose  in  the  meeting  an  old  white-headed  man  who 
said,  "  I  once  knew  a  fine  youth  who  had  been  persuaded 
to  become  a  total    abstainer;    one  day  he   went  to  the 


212  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

house  of  a  clergyman,  who  told  him  that  total  abstinence 
was  fanaticism  and  I  know  not  what.  The  young  man 
thought  that  the  clergyman  must  be  right ;  he  began  to 
drink  ;  for  him,  as  for  thousands  of  others,  it  was  impossible 
to  be  moderate  ;  he  died  in  a  few  years  oi  ddiriuni  tremens 
— a  wasted  life.  The  clergyman  who  spoke  thus,"  added 
the  old  man,  "was  the  gentleman  who  has  just  addressed 
you  ;  the  young  man  " — and  here  his  voice  was  broken  by 
a  choking  sob — "the  young  man  was  my  only  son." 

4.  Well,  then,  to  all  who  feel  themselves  safe,  whose 
habits  are  formed,  whose  years  have  passed  their  zenith,  I 
do  not  say  a  word  about  total  abstinence;  but  to  you  young 
men,  and  young  women,  of  the  poorer  classes  especially,  I 
do  say — with  all  the  strength  of  my  convictions,  and  with 
any  authority  which  my  office  gives  me,  to  you  I  do  say, 
plainly  and  distinctly,  you  cannot  do  a  better,  a  wiser,  or  a 
safer  thing ;  you  cannot  do  anything  which  would  be  more 
likely  to  save  you,  or  some  about  you,  from  peril,  shame, 
and  misery  hereafter ;  you  cannot  do  anything  which 
would  be  more  likely  to  secure  you  a  more  honourable 
life,  and  a  more  happy  home,  a  filled  purse,  a  clear  head, 
a  more  perfect  health,  a  more  untroubled  peace.  Life  is 
full  of  temptation  which  you  cannot  avoid,  but  there  is  one 
awfully  blighting  and  destroying  temptation  which  you 
can  avoid  with  perfect  ease — it  is  the  temptation  to  drii.k. 
If  any  interested  person  talk  to  you  about  liberty,  say  that 
you  will  part  on  the  very  cheapest  term  possible  with  the 
liberty  to  destroy  yourselves.  There  is  not  a  doctor,  how- 
ever inimical  to  total  abstinence,  who,  if  he  did  not  say 
to  you,  in  the  words  of  Sir  Andrew  Clark,  "Fly  from  the 
enemy  of  the  race,"  would  not  at  least  tell  you  "  that  if 
you  eat  well  and  sleep  well  you  do  not  need  strong  drink, 
and  are  better  without  it."  I  would  say  it,  especially  to 
all  of  you  who  are  servants,  and  to  all  of  you  who  belong 
to  the  poorer  classes,  and  the  working  classes.  To  suppose 
that  beer  or  spirits  is  necessary,  either  to  your  health  or 
your  work,  is  the  merest  delusion.  It  is  not  necessary.  It 
has  been  proved  again  and  again  that  the  very  best  work, 
and  the  work  which  requires  the  severest  strain,  whether 
mental  or  bodily,  can  not  only  be  done  without  it,  but 
done  better  without  it.  Whether  you  be  youth  or  maiden  I 
say  to  you,  Never  enter  the  door  of  a  public-house.    Never 


INDIVIDUAL  RESPONSIBILITY.  213 

marry  any  one  who  drinks.  If  you  are  fond  of  drink  give 
it  up  for  your  own  sake  ;  if  you  are  not  fond  of  drink  give 
it  up  for  the  sake  of  others.  If  you  are  fond  of  drink  give 
it  up  now,  and  at  once,  for  good  habits  must  be  gradually 
built  up,  but  bad  habits  can  only  be  blown  up  ;  and  no 
moral  dynamite  can  be  too  strong  with  which  to  blow 
them  up.  If  you  are  fond  of  drink,  or  getting  fond  of 
drink,  even  if  you  have  never  actually  disgraced  your  man- 
hood or  your  womanhood  by  the  loathsome  infamy  of 
drunkenness,  then  I  say  to  you,  in  God's  Name  and  as 
God's  message,  if  you  do  not  want  a  diseased  and  degraded 
life,  if  you  don't  want  to  hand  down  to  your  children  after 
you  the  seeds  of  your  disease  and  degradation,  if  you  don't 
want  to  drift  from  the  street  to  the  slum,  and  from  the 
slum  to  the  workhouse,  or  to  the  felon's  dock,  or  to  the 
cell  of  the  lunatic,  or  to  the  grave  of  the  suicide  ;  if  you 
do  not  want  to  become  one  of  the  fresh  recruits  in  the 
miserable  arniy  of  dishonoured  drunkards,  who,  from 
generation  to  generation,  ruin  their  own  life  and  make 
terrible  their  own  death — then  come  this  very  day  to  the 
Vestry  after  the  service,  either  this  morning  or  this  even- 
ing, and  I  will  give  you  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  in 
God's  name  ;  which,  if  you  keep  it,  by  God's  grace  sought 
in  prayer,  and  strengthening  the  concentrated  resolution 
of  your  own  manhood,  may  save  you  from  one  at  least  of 
earth's  self-chosen  and  preventible  evils,  which  might 
otherwise  bring  fatally  upon  you  the  w^'ath  to  come. 

5.  For  let  me  give  you  but  one  or  two  illustrations  of 
what  drink  means  ;  what  drink,  which  is  always,  of  course, 
begun  in  moderation,  has  been  to  millions,  and  therefore 
may  be  to  you,  or  to  some  of  those  whom  you  most  dearly 
Im/c. 

What  does  drink  often  mean  \.o  tJie  individual?  Here 
is-  a  passage,  given  me  by  a  parishioner,  copied  from  a 
paper  found  in  the  case  of  an  old  watch  : — "  Drunkenness 
expels  reason,  drowns  the  memory,  defaces  beauty,  dimin- 
ishes strength,  inflames  the  blood,  causes  internal,  external, 
incurable  wounds,  is  a  witch  to  the  senses,  a  devil  to  the 
soul,  a  thief  to  the  purse,  the  beggar's  companion,  a  wife's 
woe,  children's  misery,  the  picture  of  a  self-murderer  and 
a  beast,  who  drinks  to  others'  good  health,  and  robs  him- 
self of  his  own."     And  here  is  a  passage   from  a  recent 


214  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

book  upon  taxation  : — "  The  gin  palace,"  says  Mr.  Dudley 
Baxter,  "allures  its  throng  of  monomaniacs.  Emaciated,  and 
in  rags,  the  drunkard  gulps  down  the  wages  which  should 
have  supported  his  children,  calling  for  glass  after  glass, 
till  his  earnings  are  exhausted,  and  then  staggers  off  to  a 
poverty-stricken  home  to  wreak  his  madness  upon  his 
wife.  Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  are  merely  fun- 
nels for  drink,  and  divide  the  sweat  of  their  brow  between 
the  distiller  and  the  State."  "  Mere  funnels  for  drink." 
Could  there  be  a  reproach  more  infamous  for  men  made 
in  the  dignity  of  God's  image,  with  the  sign  of  their  Re- 
demption marked  visibly  upon  their  foreheads  }  Will  any 
of  3^ou  young  men  or  young  women  who  hear  me,  will  you 
be  hereafter  of  the  unhappy  wretches  whom  our  present 
drink  traffic  reduces  into  a  thing  so  abject  as  a  mere  fun- 
nel for  drink  ? 

To  society.  All  history  has  taught  us  that  there  can  be 
no  direr  curse  to  a  nation  than  a  criminal  and  pauper 
class  at  once  vicious  and  miserable.  Now  that  is  just  the 
class  that  drink  creates.  Here  are  some  actual  scenes. 
They  will  horrify  you ;  yes,  but  can  there  be  a  more  shock- 
ing h}-pocrisy  than  to  be  horrified  at  things  which  are 
going  on  almost  at  your  very  doors,  and  to  be  too  finely 
fastidious,  too  delicately  reserved,  too  daintily  sympathetic 
even  to  hear  them  mentioned  ?  Is  it  not  shocking  that 
you  should  dislike  these  slovenly,  unhandsome  things  to 
come  between  the  wind  and  your  nobility,  and  yet  not 
only  not  throw  the  w^iole  force  of  your  influence  into  the 
cause  of  those  who  would  die  to  amend  them,  but  not  even 
lift  one  finger  to  help  them  t  A  few  months  ago  all 
London  was  ashamed  at  the  bitter  cry  of  the  outcast,  aad 
there  were  Royal  Commissions  of  Princes,  Cardinals,  and 
millionaires  to  improve  the  housing  of  the  poor.  Why, 
Temperance  workers  had  not  only  been  telling  you  for 
fifty  years  about  the  infamous  housing  of  the  poor,  but 
they  had  also  told  you  the  cause  ;  and  until  you  are  brave 
enough  and  wise  enough  to  cut  off  the  cause,  we  tell  you 
from  the  beginning  that  your  efforts  are  foredoomed  to 
miserable  failure.  Leave  the  cause,  and  you  will  never 
appreciably  alter  the  horrible  effects. 

Again  I  quote  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness  : — "  More 
than  one-fourth  of  the  daily  earnings  of  the  denizens  of 


INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY,  215 

the  slums  goes  over  the  bars  of  the  beer  shops  and  the 
gin  palaces.  On  a  Saturday  night  in  a  particular  thorough- 
fare there  are  three  corner  public-houses  which  make  as 
much  money  as  the  whole  of  the  other  shops  on  both 
sides  of  the  way  put  together.  Enter  the  gin  shops  and 
you  will  see  them  crammed — labourers  drinking  away  the 
wages  that  ought  to  clothe  their  little  ones  ;  women 
squandering  the  money  which  would  purchase  food — for 
lack  of  which  their  children  are  dying."  There  is  cause, 
here  are  effects  :  "  Turn  out  of  the  main  thoroughfare  into 
the  dimly-lighted  back  streets,  and  you  come  upon  scene 
after  scene  of  grim  and  grotesque  horror.  Women  with 
hideous,  distorted  faces,  shrieking  vile  songs  ;  men  inter- 
changing with  them  foul  oaths  and  evil  jests  ;  a  cry  of 
murder  ;  a  woman  pursued  by  her  drunken  and  furious 
husband  ;  the  yell  of  an  injured  wife,  or  of  some  drunken 
fool  entrapped  into  a  den  of  infamy,  robbed  and  hurled 
into  the  street  by  some  professional  bully  ;  the  heavy 
groan  of  a  drunken  man,  and  then  stillness  ;  he  has  stag- 
gered up  the  stairs  to  his  attic,  has  missed  his  footing,  and 
fallen  heavily.  Spend  any  Saturday  night  in  a  slum,  and 
say  if  one-tenth  of  the  habitual  horrors  have  here  been 
catalogued.  And  all  these  people  who  can  spend  so  much 
in  drink  are  the  abject  poor  !  "  Can  you  wonder  at  it,  I 
ask,  when  year  after  year  you  acquiesce  in  the  system 
which  leaves  in  one  block  of  wretched  houses  1,082  families, 
and  4*1  public-houses ;  in  another  2,225  families,  and  38 
public-houses.  And  here  you  shall  have  one  or  two  of  the 
stories  of  the  children  told  by  themselves. 

M.  L. — Father  drunk  ;  struck  her  mother  and  hurt  her 
skull.  The  mother  went  raving  mad.  The  father  slipped 
off  a  barge  when  drunk  and  was  drowned. 

R.  S. — Father  gets  drunk  and  beats  mother,  and  is  now 
in  prison.     Children  dread  his  coming  back,  he  is  so  cruel. 

C.  L. — Mother  drinks  awfully.  Dropped  baby  on  the 
pavement  and  it  died.  This  is  the  second  which  she  has 
*'  accidentally  "  killed. 

M.  A.  H. — Comes  to  the  school  with  arm  broken  by  her 
father;  who  "didn't  mean  it,  only  he  was  drunk." 

Read  these  facts,  face  them,  dare  to  face  them,  try  to 
take  them  in ;  try  before  God  to  understand  what  they 
mean.     Read   that  in  the  single   town   of  Liverpool,   150 


2i6  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

infants  are  yearly  overlaid,  for  the  most  part  by  drunken 
mothers,  and  then  ask  whether  the  fires  which  were  lit  to 
Moloch,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Children  of  Hinnom,  were 
one  hundredth  part  so  hateful  as  this  holocaust  of  her 
children  which  England  yearly  offers  to  the  fiend  of  drink  ! 
Talk  of  crime,  talk  of  pauperism,  talk  of  Horrible  London; 
it  is  nonsense  to  dream  of  any  remedy,  or  any  ameliora- 
tion, till  the  conscience  of  England  is  aroused  to  deal  with 
this  question  of  drink,  as  it  was  once  aroused  to  deal  wath 
the  infinitely  less  ruinous  and  damning  curse  of  slavery. 
Talk  of  the  Franchise,  of  Redistribution,  of  Land  Laws  ; 
for  any  real  good  they  will  do  to  the  people,  for  any  real 
help  which  England  will  gain  from  them  in  her  hour  of 
need,  they  are  of  an  importance  absolutely  infinitesimal 
compared  to  the  urgency  of  the  necessity  to  repress,  con- 
trol, and  limit  with  a  strong  hand  this  curse  of  drink.  I 
say,  with  the  late  lamented  A.  M.  Sullivan,  that  if  this 
question  be  much  longer  sacrificed  to  the  mean  doctrine 
of  political  expediency  it  will  be  a  perfidy  and  a  treason 
against  the  rights  of  man.  A  drunken  people  can  never 
be  a  wise  people.  The  victims  of  demagogues — uncon- 
trollable passion  their  temptation  and  their  guide — who  can 
safely  trust  the  future,  and  the  institutions  secured  by  toil 
and  blood,  to  a  race  making  and  groping  its  way  amid 
such  evils  and  such  weakness  }  If  you  desire  the  safety^of 
England  educate  the  moral  sense  of  her  people  by  placing 
new  and  more  stringent  laws  for  the  repression  of  drink 
upon  her  Statute  Book,  and  Englishmen  will  soon  grow  as 
much  ashamed  of  the  horrors  caused  by  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  liquor  traffic  as  they  would  be  ashamed  to 
renew  the  slave  trade  with  all  its  agonies  and  crimes. 

6.  If  any  of  you,  wrapped  up  in  supercilious  acquies- 
cence, are  so  ignorant  of  the  whole  subject  as  not  to  be 
aware  that  every  syllable  which  I  have  spoken,  and  ten 
times  more  and  worse,  could  be  supported  with  overwhelm- 
ing demonstration  ;  if  you  do  not  know  that  I  have  had 
no  time  to  tell  you  a  millionth  part  of  the  dismal  and 
ghastly  tale ;  if  you  do  not  know  that  an  indictment  far 
stronger  than  I  have  uttered  has  been  uttered  for  years 
by  multitudes  of  our  deepest  thinkers  and  our  greatest 
writers — from  the  days  of  Shakespeare  and  Milton  to  those 
of  Ruskin  and  Carlyle — yet    at  least  you    will,  perhaps, 


INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  217 

listen  to  what  one  or  two  responsible  statesmen  have  said. 
Here,  then,  are  the  words  of  one  of  our  Cabinet  Ministers 
— Mr.  Chamberlain — spoken  eight  years  ago  : — '*  Drink  is 
the  curse  of  the  country.  It  ruins  the  fortunes,  it  injures  the 
health,  it  destroys  the  lives  of  one  in  twenty  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  anything  '  that  can  be  done  to  diminish  this 
terrible  sacrifice  of  human  life  and  human  happiness  is 
well  worthy  of  all  the  attention  and  study  that  we  can 
give  it.  If  we  are  silent  the  very  stones  will  cry  out.  If 
I  could  destroy  to-morrow  the  desire  for  strong  drink  in 
the  people  of  England  what  changes  should  we  see.  We 
should  see  our  gaols  and  workhouses  empty  ;  we  should 
see  more  lives  saved  in  twelve  months  than  are  consumed 
in  a  century  of  bitter  and  savage  war."  Here  are  the 
words  of  another  Cabinet  Minister,  Mr.  Trevelyan,  spoken 
three  months  ago  : — "  There  is  nothing  which  rulers  are 
prepared  to  give  you  which  has  one  twentieth  part  the 
importance  of  this.  Here  is  a  question  which  is,  indeed, 
the  question  of  the  people.  The  people  lose  everything 
that  is  to  be  lost  by  this  traffic  and  gain  absolutely  nothing. 
The  time  has  arrived  when  we  could  postpone  every- 
thing to  the  task  of  wringing  from  Parliament  the  instant 
suppression,  by  Imperial  legislation,  of  a  vast  proportion 
of  the  drink  shops  of  the  entire  country,  supplemented  by 
the  concession  of  your  undoubted  right  to  be  yourselves 
the  custodians  of  the  morality,  the  prosperity,  and  the 
peace  of  your  own  streets  and  homesteads.  Do  not  flag 
in  your  efforts  until  you  have  obtained  that  great  measure, 
compared  with  which  all  other  reforms  are  but  as  dust  in 
the  balance."  And  you,  if  such  there  be,  who  think  it 
more  important  that  brewers  and  gin  distillers  should  be 
millionaires  than  that  the  sons  of  your  country  should  be 
saved  by  thousands  from  themselves,  and  from  the  glare 
of  deadly  temptation  with  which  you  surround  their 
homes  ;  you,  if  such  there  be,  who,  wrapped  in  the  serene 
Epicureanism  of  your  own  comfort,  would  pass  by  these 
drink-wounded  wanderers  who  strew  the  highways  of  all 
the  world  ;  you,  who  think  that  you  show  all  your  worldly 
intellect  by  poqh-poohing  with  a  sneer  the  Temperance 
cause — I  warn  you  that  your  selfish  laissez-faire  policy  is 
rapidly  becoming  a  desperate  anachronism.  When  Cabinet 
Ministers  use   such  language   as  you   have   heard  ;    when 


2i8  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

your  Prime  Minister  tells  you  that  it  is  true  for  us,  and  it 
is  the  measure  of  our  discredit  and  disgrace,  that  greater 
calamities  are  inflicted  on  mankind  by  intemperance  than 
by  the  three  great  historical  scourges — war,  famine,  and 
pestilence  ;  when  a  man  like  Lord  Cairns  tells  you  that 
there  is  no  question  which  so  deeply  touches  the  moral, 
the  physical,  and  the  religious  welfare  of  the  world  ;  when 
a  Lord  Chief  Justice  like  Lord  Coleridge  declares  and  re- 
iterates that  the  vice  of  drunkenness  debases  and  brutalises 
the  people  of  these  islands  ;  when  Sir  W.  Harcourt,  with 
all  his  experience  as  Home  Secretary,  tells  you  that  the 
evils  of  the  liquor  traffic  are  immense  and  intolerable ; 
when  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Cowen,  of  Newcastle,  tells  you 
that  on  the  side  of  drink  you  must  put  "  criminality, 
pauperism,  the  woes  which  cannot  be  measured  by  arith- 
metic, the  tears  of  broken-hearted  wives,  the  cries  of 
perishing  children,  the  wrecks  of  noble  intellects  "  ;  when 
it  would  be  most  easy  to  multiply  testimonies  a  hundred- 
fold— the  day  for  callousness,  and  sneers,  and  sophisms, 
and  for  a  logic  which  despises  charity,  and  for  a  fatal  gild- 
ing of  the  licence  to  do  wrong  with  the  name  of  liberty,  is 
past.  Yes,  and  has  not  the  day  for  action  come  ?  Woe 
to  England  if  she  entrust  the  reins  of  her  destiny  to  "the 
unspiritual  god,  circumstance  ! "  Postponement  of  the 
duty  of  right  action  is  a  sin  against  the  supremacy  of  God. 
7.  Let  me,  then,  in  conclusion,  most  earnestly  beg  your 
aid  to  the  wise,  noble,  but — unhappily — struggling  Church 
of  England  Temperance  Society.  It  has  played  no  small 
part  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  against  this  vice  of  in- 
temperance, and  all  that  causes  it.  If  you  want  any  testi- 
mony, Lord  Shaftesbury,  with  all  the  weight  and  wealth  of 
his  noble  experience,  has  said,  "  The  more  I  examine  and 
travel  over  the  surface  of  England  the  more  I  see  the  ab- 
solute and  indispensable  necessity  for  Temperance  Associa- 
tions. I  am  satisfied  that,  unless  they  existed,  we  should 
be  immersed  in  such  an  ocean  of  immorality,  violence,  and 
sin,  as  would  make  this  country  uninhabitable."  If  you 
can  help  in  no  other  way  as  patriots  to  deliver  your  coun- 
try from  this  clinging  curse,  as  Christiajis  to  rescue  the 
perishing  souls  for  whom  Christ  died,  you  can  help — I 
hope  you  will  help  with  noble  generosity — by  your  gifts 
to-day. 


THE    VISION  OF   THE   KING.  219 

XIII.— The  Vision  of  the  King,  ^j  The  Very  Rev.  H. 
T.  Edwards,  M.A.,  Dean  of  Bangor. — '■'Then  said  7,  zvoe 
is  me  !  for  I  am  -undone  ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips, 
afid  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips :  fo7'  mine 
eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Then  fleiv  one  of 
the  seraphims  unto  me,  having  a  live  coal  in  hts  haftd,  which 
he  had  taken  with  the  to?tgs  from  off  the  altar :  and  he  laid 
it  upon  my  mouth,  and  said,  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips  ; 
and  thine  i?iiquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin  purged.  Also  I 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  saying,  Whom  shall  L  send,  and 
who  will  go  for  us  ?  Then  said  L,  Here  am  L;  sejid  ??te." — 
Isaiah  vi.  5-8. 

This  passage  records  a  new  view  of  existence  that  was 
seen  by  Isaiah,  and  the  effects  of  it  upon  his  soul.  Every- 
man's course  is  shaped  by  the  view  that  he  forms  of  the 
Supreme  Ruler.  If  a  man  has  no  such  view,  he  has  no 
principle,  and  he  is  living  either  in  anarchy  or  In  slavery  to 
some  other  mind.  There  are  hours  in  every  earnest  life, 
and  especially  in  every  powerful  leading  life,  when  new 
truths  or  new  views  of  old  truths  breaking  in  upon  the  eye 
of  the  soul  change  all  the  aspects  of  being  and  give  an 
impulse  that  never  loses  its  force.  Such  an  hour  of  insight 
as  came  to  Jacob  at  Bethel  and  afterwards  at  Penuel  now 
came  to  Isaiah  in  the  temple. 

Let  us  consider  this  evening,  in  the  first  place,  the 
Prophet's  view  of  the  Supreme  Ruler,  "  Mine  eyes  have 
seen  the  King,"  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  effects  of  that 
view  upon  the  soul  as  recorded  in  this  passage — first,  pro- 
ducing an  abasing  sense  of  personal  sin  ;  secondly,  quicken- 
ing the  sense  of  social  sin  ;  thirdly,  bringing  to  bear  upon 
the  life  a  purifying  power  ;  and,  lastly,  giving  to  that  life 
an  ardent  mission. 

I.  Let  us  consider,  then,  in  the  first  place,  the  view  of 
the  Supreme  Ruler. 

Isaiah  now  passed  through  a  great  spiritual  excitement 
such  as  marks  the  hours  of  conversion,  the  chief  turning 
point  in  the  careers  of  great  souls.  The  leading  idea  is 
described  in  these  words,  "  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King." 


220  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

A  new  real  power  had  risen  within  his  Hfe.  Now  in  his 
first  natural,  unenlightened,  unregenerate  state  a  man  sees 
no  supreme  authority  that  has  a  right  to  rule  his  inner  and 
his  outer  being.  He  is  rather  like  the  wild  ass  used  to  the 
wilderness  that  snuffeth  up  the  wind  at  her  pleasure,  and 
he  lives  as  he  likes,  according  to  his  impulses,  as  far  as 
social  and  physical  necessities  will  permit.  But  when  the 
light  of  God  dawns  upon  his  soul  then  man  becomes  con- 
scious of  a  personal  will  that  claims  to  rule  his  life,  and  of 
a  personal  mind  that  knows  his  downsitting  and  his  uprising 
and  understands  his  thoughts  afar  off.  We  have  heard  this 
evening  in  the  first  lesson  that  "  God  made  man  after  His 
own  image."  As  man,  therefore,  must  reflect  that  image 
when  it  is  seen  by  him  in  the  light  of  knowledge,  no  less 
truly  than  the  water  must  reflect  the  splendour  of  the  sun 
that  shines  above  it,  so  man  cannot  fail  to  bow  to  the 
sovereignty  of  God  except  by  refusing  in  blind  self-will  to 
see  God.  Man  can  only  be  alienated  from  the  life  of  God 
through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  him,  because  of  the  insensi- 
bility of  his  heart.  In  the  natural  world  we  have  sometimes 
seen  on  a  dark  and  cloudy  day  the  mist  suddenly  lifted 
and  the  landscape  revealed  in  a  flood  of  light.  In  the 
world  of  intelligence,  fields  of  inquiry  that  have  been, 
through  the  ages,  hidden  in  darkness,  have  sometimes  been 
discovered  by  the  sudden  flashes  of  genius,  and  at  once,  in 
a  moment,  added  to  the  mental  dominion  of  man.  So  in 
the  spiritual  world  ;  sometimes  Divine  realities  that  have 
been  hidden  through  the  ages  in  mystery  are  unveiled  as  if 
by  the  rolling  away  of  a  cloud  or  the  rising  of  a  curtain, 
and  the  secret  of  God  shines  upon  the  tabernacle  of  life. 

In  this  vision  of  the  Triune  Godhead  Isaiah  saw  the 
Divine  life  now  more  fully  and  more  clearly  than  he  had 
ever  seen  it  before.  In  words  he  paints  for  us  the  impres- 
sions made  by  it  upon  his  soul.  The  sight  of  the  Lord 
sitting  upon  a  throne  is  the  image  that  he  uses  to  represent 
to  us  the  conception  that  he  now  formed  of  the  immovable 
authority  of  the  Divine  life  sending  forth  its  unfailing  laws. 
Hitherto  God  had  been  to  him  a  dim  floating  idea,  far  away 
in  the  clouds,  like  a  distant  monarch  exercising  no  constant 
sway  over  existence  ;  but  now  he  recognises  that  the  Divine 
life  is  everywhere  ;  that  all  things  are  united  to  God  ;  that 
all  the  duties,  all  the  energies  and  the  scenes  of  existence 


THE    VISION  OF   THE   KING.  221 

are,  as  it  were,  parts  of  the  royal  train,  wide  as  the  world, 
filling  the  vast  floor  of  the  temple  of  being. 

This  change  in  the  spiritual  ideas  of  Isaiah  seems  to  have 
been  very  similar  to  the  change  that  was  wrought  in  the 
disciples  by  the  power  of  the  resurrection,  the  sight  of  the 
ascension,  and  the  inspiration  of  Pentecost.  They  had 
before  acknowledged  Jesus  as  their  Master,  but  their  ideas 
of  His  Divine  authority  were  dim  and  uncertain.  His  form 
had  not  been  lifted  up  before  the  eyes  of  their  souls  so  as 
to  become  to  them  "The  Most  High";  His  majesty  had 
not  been  settled  and  established,  as  it  were,  upon  a  throne 
within  their  consciousness.  They  had  seen  His  glory  in 
glimpses  through  the  veil  of  humiliation,  but  His  influence, 
local  and  partial  to  their  minds,  had  not  as  yet,  like  a  royal 
train,  filled  all  the  sanctuary  of  their  universe.  But  when 
He  rose  from  the  grave,  when  He  ascended  above  the 
clouds  into  realms  out  of  sight,  when  He  sent  down  the 
light  and  the  heat  of  His  Spirit  into  their  hearts  and  minds, 
then  they  recognised  Him  with  the  sight  of  the  soul  as  the 
King  ;  they  then  realized  that  all  power  was  given  to  Him 
in  heaven  and  in  earth,  that  the  height  and  the  depth,  that 
life  and  death,  that  sickness  and  health,  that  the  cross  of 
suffering  and  the  crown  of  sovereignty,  that  the  earthly 
course  and  the  silent  grave,  the  temporal  home  and  the 
great  hereafter,  were  all  subject  to  the  sovereignty  of  His 
Divine  human  sceptre. 

Similar  to  that  is  the  change  that  is  wrought  in  every 
human  soul  when  religion  comes  instead  of  a  misty,  cloudy, 
speculative  theory,  as  a  living  power  to  rule  our  daily 
being.  This  revelation  of  Jesus  as  the  King,  is  going  on 
for  ever  through  the  ages.  It  comes  to  various  men  in 
various  forms.  To  Isaiah  in  the  Temple,  to  Thomas  as  he 
touched  the  wounds  of  sacred  suffering,  to  Saul  as  he  came 
near  to  Damascus  the  light  shone  that  revealed  the  King 
of  Life.  Through  the  ages  it  is  the  work  of  the  ministry 
of  the  Church  to  unfold  by  her  teaching  the  features  of 
Jesus.  The  work  of  the  ministry  of  the  Church  through 
the  ages  is  to  pray  the  Apostle's  prayer,  that  the  "  God  of 
our  Lord.  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  glory,  may  give  unto 
you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  and  the  knowledge 
of  Him;  the  eyes  of  your  understanding  being  enlightened; 
that  ye  may  know  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His 


222  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

power  to  US-ward  who  believe,  according  to  the  working-  of 
His  mighty  power,  which  He  wrought  in  Christ,  when  He 
raised  Him  from  the  dead." 

n.  Let  us  proceed  to  consider  the  effects  of  this  vision 
upon  the  soul.  The  first  effect  upon  Isaiah  was  to  give 
him  an  abasing  consciousness  of  his  own  personal  sin. 
"Woe  is  me!  for  I  am  undone;  because  I  am  a  man  of 
unclean  lips."  The  lips  being  the  outermost  organ  of  that 
speech  which  expresses  the  thoughts  and  the  feelings  of  the 
mind  and  the  heart,  represent  all  the  inner  life  ;  and  there- 
fore when  Isaiah  says  that  the  lips  were  unclean,  he  meant 
that  the  whole  stream  of  life  required  purification.  Why 
did  the  vision  of  the  King  create  this  sense  of  guilt  and 
misery  1  In  the  King  is  the  law  of  our  life  ;  it  is  only  when 
we  see  the  King's  life  that  we  know  what  our  own  life 
ought  to  be.  Because  we  are  created  in  the  image  of  God 
we  are  not  in  our  true  state  until  we  reflect  that  image  ; 
therefore  the  sight  of  the  Divine  character  must  create  in 
man  a  sense  of  moral  failure,  that  is,  a  consciousness  of  sin. 
As  the  seraphim  cried  before  God,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy," 
there  is  created  in  man  a  bitter  consciousness  of  his  own 
want  of  holiness. 

So  it  is  for  ever.  Where  there  is  no  vision  of  excellence 
there  can  be  no  pangs  of  self-reproach.  The  village  artist, 
who  has  never  seen  any  works  better  than  his  own,  is  self- 
satisfied  in  his  ignorance  ;  but  the  man  who  has  seen  the 
master  works  of  sovereign  genius,  recognises  in  the  light 
his  own  nothingness  in  the  presence  of  an  ideal  unap- 
proached,  high-throned  and  lifted  up :  he  cries,  abased, 
"  Woe  is  me !   I  am  nothing,  I  have  everything  to  learn." 

So  is  it  in  the  moral  world.  When  the  vision  of  a  pure 
life  breaks  in  upon  the  eyes  of  the  impure  it  creates  bitter 
self-reproach,  and  at  first  rebellious  impatience.  When  the 
frenzied,  debased,  ferocious  slave  of  the  demons  of  lust  saw 
Jesus,  the  Lord  of  the  moral  life,  drawing  near,  the  sight 
of  the  most  High  and  Holy  One  was  agony  to  him,  and  he 
cried,  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  Thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of 
God  Most  High."  So  it  is  with  us.  The  sight  of  God's 
perfection  for  ever  creates  in  us  pangs  of  penitence. 

But  the  vision  of  the  King  not  only  makes  us  unhappy 
about  our  own  sins,  but  it  also  makes 'us  unhappy  about 
the  sins  of  the  society  of  which  we  are  members.     Man  is 


THE    VISION  OF  THE  KING.  223 


a  social  being- ;  we  men  are  members  of  one  body.  If  one 
member  suffer  all  the  members  suffer  with  it.  We  cannot 
separate  our  personal  life  from  our  social  life  ;  therefore,  in 
the  moment  when  we  begin  to  desire  a  nobler  personal 
life  we  desire  also  to  create  around  us  a  nobler  social  state. 
'  So  Isaiah,  when  he  saw  the  King,  looked  with  agony  upon 
the  sin  and  the  depravity  of  the  society  of  which  he  was 
a  member,  and  he  cried,  "  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  dwell  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips."  And  what  were  the 
sins  that  defiled  the  lips  of  Israel  in  those  days  }  We  have 
a  description  of  them  in  the  five  preceding  chapters.  The 
fountain  of  all  uncleanness,  ever  the  same,  is  the  self-will 
of  our  lower  nature,  that  rebels  against  the  King  whose 
higher  law  is  that  love  which  constrains  man  to  sacrifice 
his  baser  instincts  for  the  Divine  glory  and  the  social  good. 
Isaiah,  in  his  first  chapter,  tells  us  that  men  in  his  days 
lived  without  the  thought  of  God,  to  please  themselves. 
God  said  of  them,  "  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  chil- 
dren, and  they  have  rebelled  against  me.  The  ox  knoweth 
his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib  ;  but  Israel  doth 
not  know.  My  people  doth  not  consider."  That  godless 
spirit  of  self-will  assumed  different  forms  in  different  classes 
of  society,  as  the  prophet  teaches  us.  It  made  the  upper 
leading  class  corrupt,  unprincipled,  self-seeking,  tyrannical, 
luxurious.  "  Thy  princes  are  rebellious  and  companions 
of  thieves  ;  every  one  loveth  gifts,  and  foUoweth  after  re- 
wards." "  Their  land,  also,  is  full  of  silver  and  gold,  neither 
is  there  any  end  of  their  treasures  ;  their  land,  also,  is  full 
of  horses,  neither  is  there  any  end  of  their  chariots."  "The 
Lord  will  enter  into  judgment  with  the  ancients  of  His 
people,  and  the  princes  thereof ;  for  ye  have  eaten  up  the 
vineyard  ;  the  spoil  of  the  poor  is  in  your  houses.  What 
mean  ye  that  ye  beat  My  people  to  pieces,  and  grind  the 
faces  of  the  poor } "  And  the  same  godless  spirit  made 
men  eager  to  be  monopolists  of  riches,  to  the  detriment  of 
the  common  weal  "  Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to 
house,  that  lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be  no  place,  that 
they  may  be  placed  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.""  The 
same  godless  spirit  made  the  women  of  Israel  heartless, 
thoughtless,  shallow,  frivolous.  The  prophet  has  painted 
the  contrast  between  the  woman  of  the  world  as  she  shines 
in  the  finery  of  her  short-lived  fashion,  and  as  she  lies  in 


224  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

the  noisome  decay  of  the  shroud  and  the  sepulchre.  "The 
daughters  of  Zion  are  haughty,  and  walk  with  stretched 
forth  necks  and  wanton  eyes,  walking  and  mincing  as  they 
go.  .  .  .  The  Lord  will  take  away  the  bravery  of  their 
tinkling  .  .  .  the  chains  and  bracelets,  and  the  mufflers, 
the  bonnets  .  .  .  the  changeable  suits  of  apparel  .  .  . 
the  glasses  .  .  .  the  wimples,  the  mantles,  the  crisping 
pins  .  .  .  the  fine  linen,  and  the  hoods,  and  the  vails 
.  .  .  and  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  instead  of  sweet 
smell  there  shall  be  stink,  and  instead  of  the  girdle  a  rent, 
and  instead  of  well-set  hair  baldness  ;  .  .  .  and  burning 
instead  of  beauty."  But  as  if  to  give  two-fold  emphasis 
the  prophet  twice  repeats  that  the  ruinous  root  of  the 
godless  spirit  of  his  age  was  its  drunkenness.  "  Woe  unto 
them  that  rise  up  early  in  the  morning,  that  they  may  follow 
strong  drink  ;  that  continue  until  night,  till  wine  inflame 
them  !  And  the  harp,  and  the  viol,  the  tabret  .  .  .  and 
wine  are  in  the  feasts  ;  but  they  regard  not  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  neither  consider  the  operation  of  His  hands.  There- 
fore My  people  are  gone  into  captivity  .  .  .  hell  hath 
enlarged  herself,  and  opened  her  mouth  without  measure. 
.  .  .  Woe  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to  drink  wine,  and 
men  of  strength  to  mingle  strong  drink."  And  in  this 
chapter  the  prophet  tells  us  what  were  the  effects  of  these 
sins  upon  the  tone  of  the  nation — making  the  heart  fat,  the 
ears  heavy,  and  the  eyes  blind  to  truth  and  beauty. 

Sin  is  not  peculiar  to  any  age.  The  man  who  has  "  seen 
the  King,"  the  man  who  has  the  highest  idea  of  life,  must 
for  ever  say,  "  Woe  is  me  !  I  am  among  the  men  of  unclean 
lips.  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips." 
Every  one  of  us  knows  the  plague  of  his  own  heart  when 
he  stands  in  the  presence  of  the  King.  Our  nation  has  its 
great  social  evil.  Britain,  thank  God,  is  not  like  Israel — 
unsound  from  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  to  the  head.  Down- 
fall, let  us  hope,  is  not  impending  here  as  it  was  there. 
There  is  virtue  in  British  homes.  Society  amongst  us  here 
and  there  has  its  hollow  fashions,  its  tinkling  frivolities,  its 
liaughty,  overbearing  arrogances,  and  its  hidden  festering 
vice,  but  the  women  of  Britain — our  wives  and  mothers  and 
sisters — are  not,  thank  God,  the  false,  tawdry,  bejewelled 
wantons  that  ruined  the  life  of  Israel  by  corrupting  its 
homes.     There  are,  amongst  us  sometimes,  men  who  defile 


THE    VISION  OF   THE  KING.  225 

their  lips  with  commercial  fraud,  but  still,  thank  God,  the 
motto  of  the  British  merchant  is  "Integrity,"  and  "Thorough- 
ness "  is  the  boast  of  the  British  workman. 

But  there  is  one  fountain  of  uncleanness  that  pours  forth 
a  poisonous  stream  to  defile  the  lips  of  the  nation.  The 
curse  of  strong  drink  is  an  overflowing  well  of  shame,  of 
sin,  of  vice,  of  woe.  The  national  lips  in  the  Parliament 
of  the  people  have  been  too  often  defiled  with  sophistical 
apologies  for  this  great  national  sin,  this  baneful  sin  that 
for  a  time  feeds  the  finances  while  it  starves  the  morality 
of  the  nation.  A  false  social  opinion  has  palliated  it,  has 
failed  to  frown,  as  it  ought  to  have  frowned,  upon  the 
fosterers  of  depravity.  Men,  as  it  is,  are  not  ashamed 
amongst  us  of  great  fortunes  built  up,  having  their  founda- 
tions down  in  the  depths  of  human  degradation  ;  their 
houses  are  literally  filled  with  the  spoils  of  virtue ;  they 
deck  themselves  with  jewels  that  have  cost  many  a  soul  its 
purity,  and  many  a  home  its  peace.  This  sin  is  defiling 
our  lives.  Oh  !  how  this  cursed  stream  defiles  the  lips  of 
human  nature  amongst  us.  The  lips  of  the  father,  of  the 
husband,  formed  by  God  for  tenderness  and  love,  are  defiled 
with  cruelty  and  cursing,  with  foulness  and  ferocity.  The 
lips  of  the  mother  that  God  formedfor  words  of  purity  and 
peace,  to  teach  her  offspring  to  lisp  the  lessons  of  life  in 
accents  of  prayer  and  praise  and  love,  are  too  often  made 
unclean  by  the  fiendish  flight  of  the  wicked  words,  blas- 
phemy, obscenity,  and  despair. 

If  the  prophet  were  to  come  amongst  us  ;  were  he  to 
visit  the  cheerless  hovels  where  the  drunkards'  children 
are  withering  in  hungry,  ragged  wretchedness  ;  if  he  were  to 
go  through  the  courts  where  the  cursings  of  the  blasphemer 
mingle  with  the  blows  of  the  wife-beater  ;  if  he  were  to 
watch  the  crowds  of  men  and  women  that  carry  under  a 
fatal  spell  their  hard-won  earnings  to  the  shrines  of  sen- 
suality ;  if  he  were  to  stand  in  our  gas-lit  streets  when  the 
countless  taverns  open  their  unwilling  jaws  to  pour  out 
their  midnight  stream  of  besotted,  half-frenzied  human 
beasts  to  swell  the  torrent  of  shame  that  well-nigh  chokes 
at  certain  hours  our  proudest  thoroughfares,  would  he  not 
say,  "  Hell  hath  enlarged  herself,  and  opened  her  mouth 
without  measure  ;"  "  Their  vine  is  of  the  vine  of  Sodom,  and 
of  the  fields  of  Gomorrah  ;  their  grapes  are  grapes  of  gall ; 

Q 


226  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

their  clusters  are  bitter,  Their  wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons, 
and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps  "  ? 

Now,  my  brethren,  we  feel  pain  at  social  evil  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  clearness  with  which  we  have  seen  the 
King — in  other  words,  to  the  strength  of  our  religious  con- 
victions, and  the  sincerity  of  our  religious  emotions.  If  we 
take  low  views  of  human  destiny,  if  we  think  of  ourselves 
and  others  as  only  short-lived  animals,  breathing  away  our 
brief  day,  and  going  down,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust, 
into  the  cold,  dark  earth,  to  rise  no  more,  then  we  do  not 
feel  much  pain  when  existence  around  us  is  without  high 
ends  here,  or  high  hopes  of  hereafter  ;  then  we  can  bear  to 
look  with  calmness  on  the  masses  of  human  misery,  upon 
the  homes  that  God  meant  to  be  the  Paradises  of  earthly 
rest,  turned  into  the  fiery  ante-rooms  of  hell ;  upon  the  young 
man,  formed  for  knowledge,  for  virtue,  for  moral  dignity, 
for  princely  self-control,  for  immortality,  transformed  by  the 
demon  of  drink  into  the  heavy,  dull,  soulless,  or  the  wild, 
furious,  savage  human  beast ;  we  can  bear  to  look  upon  the 
saddest  of  all  sights,  upon  the  young,  blooming  girl,  once 
in  her  childish  prime,  pure  as  the  spotless  flowers  of  the 
early  spring,  blasted  and  blighted  by  the  spoiler's  breath, 
sliding  down  the  fatal  slope  into  the  dark,  deep,  social  abyss, 
out  of  which  there  rise  to  our  ears  the  hollow  laughter  of 
the  harlot's  drink-forced  gaiety,  the  pitiful  moaning  of  the 
worn-out,  sinking  hospital  patient,  the  last  gaspings,  the 
lonely  agonies,  the  few  hurried  footsteps  of  the  friendless, 
tearless,  unattended  funeral,  dying  away  into  the  silence  of 
the  unremembered  pauper's  grave. 

But  if  we  have  seen  the  King;  if,  in  the  light  of  His  face, 
we  have  learnt  what  life  is  to  be,  and  what  by  His  royal 
grace  He  will  make  it  to  be,  then  we  never  can  look  at  these 
social  evils  without  feeling  our  own  share  of  responsibility, 
without  feeling  a  bitter,  salutary  self-reproach  and  crying 
out,  "  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
unclean  lips." 

My  brethren,  the  vision  that  brought  the  pains  of  repent- 
ance brought  also  the  gladness  of  renewal.  So  it  is  always. 
There  is  no  birth  without  birth  pains.  So  in  the  moral 
world.  The  vision  that  brings  the  agony  of  self-condemna- 
tion brings  also  the  strength  of  reform  and  the  ardour  of 
inspiration.    That  cry  of  woe  from  the  prophet's  lips  brought 


THE    VISION  OF  THE  KING.  227 

down  into  his  life  a  new  power  from  above.  "  Tlien  flew 
one  of  the  seraphims  unto  me,  having  a  Hve  coal  in  his 
hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs  from  off  the  altar  ; 
and  he  laid  it  upon  my  mouth,  and  said,  Lo,  this  hath 
touched  thy  lips  ;  and  thine  iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy 
sin  is  purged." 

Now,  what  is  the  meaning  of  that  live  coal  from  the 
altar  ?  The  altar  is  a  place  of  sacrifice ;  sacrifice  is  an 
expression  of  love,  and  love  is  a  leading  feature  in  the 
countenance  of  the  King,  and  therefore  the  power  that 
redeems  us  into  the  likeness  of  the  King  is  the  Spirit  that 
brings  to  bear  upon  us  the  burning  influence  of  love  from 
the  altar.  The  altar  is  the  cross  of  Calvary,  on  which  the 
Son  of  man  gave  Himself  for  the  good  of  many.  Love  is 
the  source  of  all  personal  and  of  all  social  good.  Nothing 
purifies  us  like  sacrifice — sacrifice  of  thought,  of  care,  of 
time,  of  toil,  of  money,  for  the  good  of  others.  We  cannot 
have  our  life  purified  unless  we  are  touched  by  the  fire  from 
the  altar.  If  we  look  at  the  King,  if  we  welcome  the 
seraphim  in  prayer  and  praise  and  the  sacraments — if,  then, 
there  comes  through  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  into  our 
lives  day  after  day  the  fire  of  enthusiasm  and  the  light  of 
principle,  it  takes  away  all  our  iniquity  and  it  purges  all 
our  sin. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  remind  you  that  this  vision  which 
purifies  gives  also  a  life  mission.  When  Isaiah  had  received 
the  vision  of  enlightenment,  and  had  been  touched  by  the 
fire  from  the  altar,  then  he  heard  a  voice  saying  unto  him, 
"  Whom  shall  I  send  }  Who  will  go  for  us  ?  "  Now  that 
voice  had  been  sounding  through  the  ages,  but  it  was  only 
the  men  who  had  seen  the  King,  and  been  touched  by  the 
sacred  fire  that  could  understand  the  voice,  and  say,  "  Here 
am  I,  send  me."  That  is  the  voice  that  always  comes  to 
those  who  look  at  the  King,  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Wherever  there  is  misery  and  illness,  wherever  there  is  hard 
bondage  and  grievous  affliction,  there  this  Divine  voice 
comes  to  those  who  see  the  King.  It  was  the  voice  that 
came  forth  out  of  the  burning  vision  in  the  wilderness  of 
Midian  to  the  lawgiver  and  liberator,  and  sent  him  forth  to 
deliver  his  brethren  from  the  brickfields  of  the  tyrant ;  it 
was  the  voice  that  came  to  Clarkson  and  to  Wilberforce  in 
our  own  land,  sending  them  to  break  the  chains  that  cruelty, 


228  PLATFORM  AIDS  -TEMPERANCE. 

greed,  and  arrogance  had  forged  to  deprive  souls  of  the 
Hberty  that  God  had  given  them  ;  and  it  is  the  voice  that 
calls  to-day  to  earnest  men  to  go  forth  under  the  banner  of 
temperance  to  break  the  chains  of  a  darker  slavery  that  is 
destroying  the  glorious  liberty  of  souls.  There  is  in  this 
land  darkness  and  sin  ;  there  are  myriads  in  this  land  to- 
night who  are  suffering  a  bondage  harder  than  that  of  Egypt, 
and  a  servitude  worse  than  that  of  the  West  Indian  negroes 
— a  bondage  that  binds  not  only  the  body  but  the  soul,  a 
servitude  that  robs  man  not  only  of  the  citizenship  of  earth, 
but  shuts  him  out  from  the  franchise  of  that  city  of  free 
spirits,  the  Jerusalem  above,  into  which  there  shall  enter 
nothing  that  defileth. 

Brethren,  let  us  live  in  the  sight  of  the  King.  In  the 
Church  He  unveils  His  presence.  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  to 
the  King  ;  let  us  welcome  the  seraphim  of  grace,  that  He 
may  fire  our  hearts  with  love;  that  we  may  not,  in  our  day, 
stand  with  closed  eyes  and  cold  hearts,  acquiescing  in  the 
ruin  and  moral  misery  of  men,  but  that  we  may  look  to 
the  Throne  and  say  to  the  King,  "  Thy  kingdom  come  ; " 
that  we  may  have  our  ears  opened  to  every  call  of  duty  ; 
and  that  we  may,  with  loyal  hearts,  say,  whenever  the 
King  calls,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me/' 


XIV.— The  Shadows  of  Civilisation,  ^jj;  The  Ven. 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S.  ''^  And  slaves^  and 
souLs  of  menr — Rev.  xviii.  13. 

I.  The  Bible,  in  its  marvellous  treasury  of  thoughts  uttered 
by  men  whose  souls  were  inspired  and  dilated  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God,  contains  some  lurid  pictures  of  the  downfall 
of  guilty  cities  and  guilty  nations.  On  the  Cities  of  the 
Plain  God  rained  fire  and  brimstone,  storm  and  tempest, 
and,  seizing  Lot  by  the  hand,  the  angels  hurried  him  and 
his  from  the  ghastly  overthrow.  On  Babylon  the  burning 
lips  of  Isaiah  pronounced  its  doom ;  on  Nineveh  the 
Prophets  Nahum  and  Zephaniah  ;  on  Tyre  the  magnificent 
scorn  and  irony  of  Ezekiel  ;  on  Jerusalem — the  religious 
murderess  of  the  prophets — on  her  sham  religionism,  on 
her  heart  of  cruelty  and  shame  hidden  under  the  gorgeous 
cope   of  ceremonial    profession,  the    Lord   Jesus    Himself 


THE  SHADOWS   OF  CIVILISATION.  229 

uttered  His  pathetic  burden  as  He  sat  at  sunset  on  the 
slopes  of  Olivet.  And  here  the  mighty  Angel  of  the 
Apocalypse,  who  lightens  the  earth  with  his  glory,  pro- 
nounced the  doom  and  dirge  on  Rome,  as  the  type  of  the 
great  guilty  cities  of  the  world.  And  what  was  the  cause 
of  the  catastrophe  and  conflagration  of  these  great  homes 
of  human  magnificence  and  power  }  The  answer  is  simple. 
It  was  cruelty  and  luxury  and  lust ;  it  was  pride,  fulness 
of  bread,  and  abundance  of  idleness  ;  it  was  the  wantonness, 
the  petulance,  the  insolence  of  corrupted  wealth  ;  it  was 
godlessness,  and  the  vice  which  invariably  follows  in  the 
wake  of  godlessness,  and  the  avenging  misery  which  dogs 
the  heels  of  vice.  Cities  and  nations,  in  the  days  of  their 
visitation,  recognise  not  their  peril,  and  laugh  to  scorn  the 
prophecies  of  their  overthrow.  What  did  Rome  care — 
Rome,  the  eternal  city,  the  lady  of  the  nations,  sitting  on 
her  golden  throne,  and  declaring  that  she  could  see  no 
sorrow — what  cared  she  for  the  wild  cry  of  a  persecuted 
Jew  .-^  Ay,  but  behind  the  voice  of  the  persecuted  Jew 
was  the  cry  of  the  souls  under  the  altar  "  How  long,  oh 
Lord,  how  long?"  and  the  voice  of  the  mighty  angel, 
"  Fallen,  fallen  is  Babylon  the  great !  "  and  the  fiat  of  the 
Eternal  God,  speaking  in  the  still  small  accents  of  His 
irrefragable  laws.  And  in  one. hour  had  her  judgment 
come  !  She  held  in  her  hand  the  jewelled  cup  of  the  wine 
of  her  seductions,  and  her  own  people  and  the  many 
nations  drunk  of  it;  it  at  once  intoxicated  and  stupefied 
them  ;  it  inflamed  their  passions  and  dulled  their  con- 
sciences, and  now  that  cup  was  becoming  for  her  the  cup 
of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God  ;  even-handed  justice  was 
already  beginning  to  commend  the  ingredients  of  the 
poisoned  chalice  to  her  own  lips. 

2.  \\\  this  chapter  we  have  the  lament  of  the  kings  and 
merchants  of  the  earth,  as,  with  dust  upon  their  heads,  they 
gaze  on  the  desolation  of  the  Imperial  City.  Standing  afar 
off,  for  fear  of  her  torment,  they  recount  her  treasures,  they 
bemoan  her  sudden  destruction.  First,  among  her  stores 
of  wealth,  they  celebrate  the  splendour  of  her  jewelry — the 
gold  and  silver,  and  precious  stones  and  pearls  ;  and  next, 
the  materials  of  rich  altire — the  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and 
silk,  and  scarlet ;  and  then  the  costly  furniture — the  tables 
of  citron,  the  vessels  of  inlaid   ivory,  and  scented   wood  ; 


230  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

then  the  precious  spices — cinnamon,  and  fragrant  perfumes, 
and  aromatic  gums  ;  and  then  the  hixuries  of  the  palate — 
wine  and  oil,  and  fine  flour  ;  and  then  the  vast  droves  of 
oxen  and  sheep  for  food  ;  and  then  the  magnificent  equip- 
ages, horses,  and  chariots  inlaid  with  silver  ;  and  then,  in 
terrific  climax — that  which  was  the  crushing  cost  of  all 
these  things  in  the  sight  of  God — the  blood  and  the  misery, 
the  sweat  and  the  anguish,  the  fraud  and  oppression,  the 
robbery  and  wrong,  the  groan  of  over-wearied  bodies,  and 
the  anguish  of  neglected  spirits  ;  the  merchandise  of  persons 
and  lives  ;  "•  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men."  And  God's 
judgment  had  come  upon  it  all ! 

3.  Yes  1  for  all  this  worldly  pomp  and  circumstance — this 
wealth  and  wantonness,  and  delicate  luxury — was  only  the 
iridescence  over  the  deep  stagnation  of  her  decay.  You 
w^ill  remember  how  when  Satan,  in  the  Paradise  Regained, 
shows  to  Jesus  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  them,  He  answers  that  He  knows 

"  Their  sumptuous  gluttonies,  and  gorgeous  feasts 
On  citron  tables  or  Atlantic  stone, 

Their  wines  of  Setia,  Cales,  and  Falerne, 
Chios  and  Crete,  and  how  they  quati"  in  gold, 
Crystal,  and  myrrhine  cups,  embossed  with  gems 
And  studs  of  pearl," 

And  He  adds  that  He  was  not  sent  to  free 
"  That  people,  victor  once,  now  vile  and  base, 

Luxurious  by  their  wealth,  and  greedier  still. 
And  from  the  daily  scene  effeminate. 
What  wise  and  valiant  man  would  seek  to  free 
These,  thus  degenerate,  by  themselves  enslaved, 
Or  could  of  inward  slaves  make  outward  free  ?" 

The  contrast  thus  presented  between  the  prosperity  of 
nations  outwardly  and  their  inward  rottenness,  the  difterent 
aspect  they^  bear  to  the  eyes  of  men  and  to  the  E}'e  of  God, 
is  far  more  forcibly  expressed  in  this  apocalyptic  chapter. 
The  world  saw  in  Rome  a  queen  of  the  world,  a  home  of 
splendour  rarely  equalled — never  surpassed  ;  the  Apostle 
saw  in  her  a  doomed  criminal,  a  fallen  power.  The  tawdry 
magnificence,  w^hich  dazzled  all  eyes,  shrivelled  up  to 
nothing  under  one  ray  of  Heaven's  pure  light,  which  re- 


THE   SHADOWS   OF  CIVILISATION.  231 

vealed  the  fcstcrinjr  sores  of  her  squalor  and  de^^radation. 
Her  riches  were  corrupted,  her  garments  motli-eaten  ;  lier 
gold  and  silver  were  cankered,  and  the  rust  of  them,  witness- 
ing against  her,  eat  her  flesh  as  it  were  fire.  She  had  lived 
in  pleasure  on  the  earth,  and  been  wanton  ;  she  had 
nourished  her  heart  in  a  day  of  slaughter.  Her  sins  had 
reached  unto  Heaven,  and  God  had  remembered  her  ini- 
quities. Her  palaces  had  been  polluted  ;  unclean  wings 
flapped  about  their  gilded  roofs.  She  had  become  the 
habitation  of  demons,  and  the  home  of  every  foul  spirit, 
and  a  cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird.  And  in  the 
midst  of  the  wail  of  the  world's  children  over  her  destruc- 
tion, like  a  flash  from  the  blue  heaven,  the  seer  interposes 
his  own  calm  epitaph  of  retribution  :  *'  And  the  fruits  that 
thy  soul  lusted  after  are  departed  from  thee  ;  and  all  things 
which  are  dainty  and  goodly  are  departed  from  thee  ;  and 
thou  shalt  find  them  no  more  at  all." 

4.  My  friends,  the  luxury  and  gorgeousness  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  splendour  of  imperial  cities,  casts  a  very  dark  and 
deep  shadow.  The  Angel  of  St.  John's  vision  sums  it  all 
up  in  that  tremendous  close  of  his  catalogue  of  magnifi- 
cence, "And  slaves,  and  souls  of  men."  Dante,  in  his 
intense  way,  expresses  the  same  truth.  In  traversing  the 
grim  circle  of  hell,  he  comes  to  a  stream  whose  waves  of 
red  blood  make  his  hair  stand  on  end.  It  is  Phlegethon, 
one  of  the  four  infernal  rivers  that  disgorge 

"  Into  the  burning  lake  their  baleful  streams — 
Abiioned  Styx,  the  flood  of  deadly  hate  ; 
Sad  Acheron,  of  sorrow  black  and  deep  ; 
Cocytus,  named  of  lamentation  loud, 
Heard  on  the  rueful  stream  ;  fierce  Phlegethon, 
Whose  waves  of  torrent  fire  inflame  with  rage." 

Only  that  to  Dante  Phlegethon  is  a  river  of  loathly  gore, 
not  of  flame  ;  and  plunges  into  the  abyss  in  a  Niagara  of 
boiling  blood.  And  his  guide  tells  him  how  these  awful 
rivers  are  formed.  There  stands,  he  says,  in  Crete,  within  the 
mountain  Ida,  the  colossal  image  of  an  old  man,  whose  head 
is  of  gold,  but  the  rest  of  iron  and  brass,  and  who  stands 
mainly  on  a  foot  of  miserable  clay  ;  and  from  a  fissure  which 
runs  throughout  that  image,  except  its  head  of  gold  drops 
a  stream  of  tears  which  form  these  rivers  of  anguish,  and 
of  hatred,  and  of  blood,  which  streaming  ever  downwards 


232  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

mingle  and  coagulate  at  last  in  the  icy  pool  of  misery,  in 
which  stands  Satan,  the  author  of  all  sin.  And  the  allegory 
is  this — that  metal  colossus  of  the  old  man,  standing  on  its 
foot  of  clay,  is  the  image  of  human  civilization  of  the  king- 
doms of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them  ;  and  the  stream 
which  trickles  through  its  fissured  hollowness  is  the  stream  of 
anguish  and  remorse  which  flows  from  their  sins  and  vices  ; 
and  that  stream  of  vain  tears,  and  sullen  passion,  and 
abhorrent  blood  wrings  the  agonies  of  infernal  torment, 
because  men's  vices  become  their  punishment ;  and  sin,  and 
the  remorse  of  sin,  is  the  hell  of  vitiated  humanity  ;  and 
the  tears  of  that  remorse,  which  brings  no  repentance,  do 
but  sting,  and  burn,  and  form  the  true  Inferno  of  the  guilty, 
and  leap  down  at  last  into  the  place  where  Satan's  seat  is 
— the  icy  Cocytus  of  despair.  It  is  a  marvellous  allegory 
worked  out  with  supreme  imagination,  but  the  whole  tenor 
and  pathos  of  it,  the  burning  conviction  that  sin  and  misery 
are  the  invariable  shadows  of  human  pomp  and  pride,  are 
compressed  yet  more  forcibly  into  these  verses  of  St.  John, 
when  he  sa}'s  :  "  And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  shall  weep 
and  mourn  over  her  ;  for  no  man  buys  their  merchandise 
any  more:  the  merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious 
stones,  and  of  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk, 
and  scarlet,  and  all  thyine  wood,  and  all  manner  vessels 
of  ivory,  and  all  manner  vessels  of  most  precious  wood, 
and  of  brass,  and  iron,  and  marble;  and  cinnamon,  and 
odour,  and  perfumes,  and  frankincense,  and  wine,  and  oil, 
and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep,  and 
horses,  and  chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men." 

5.  My  friends,  read  over  this  chapter,  and  mentally  put 
England,  put  London,  for  the  great  world-city  of  the  seer's 
apocalyptic  vision.  The  details  of  it,  says  one  of  the 
ablest  and  calmest  of  modern  commentators,  "far  more 
nearly  suit  London  than-Rome  at  any  period  of  her  history." 
Is  our  merchandise  less  memorable  than  this?  Have  we 
not  ransacked  all  the  world  for  our  luxury  and  splendour — 
the  silver  of  Potosi  ;  the  gold  of  Australian  rivers  ;  the 
spices  of  Arabia  ;  the  amber  of  the  Baltic  shore  ;  the  furs 
of  the  Arctic  ;  the  looms  of  India  ;  the  bazaars  of  China  ; 
the  workshops  of  Japan  }  Are  not  the  creatures  of  the 
earth  becoming  gradually  extinct,  from  the  elephant  who 
bears  for  us  his  load  of  ivory,  to  the  silver  fox  of  the  prairies, 


THE   SHADOWS   OF  CIVILISATION.  233 

and  the  kingfisher  of  our  English  streams,  and  the  Httle 
feathered  jewels  of  American  forests,  which  are  slaughtered 
in  myriads  for  our  adornment  ?  Is  not  the  toiling  life  of 
the  many  spent  for  the  self-indulgence  of  the  few  ?  Is  it 
less  true  of  us  than  of  those  Florentine  brothers  in  the 
poem — 

"  And  for  them  many  a  weary  hand  did  swelt 
In  torched  mines,  and  noisy  factories : 
Many  all  day  in  dazzling  river  stood, 
To  take  the  rich-ored  driftings  of  the  flood  ; 
For  them  the  Ceylon  diver  held  his  breath 
And  went  all  naked  to  the  hungry  shark  ; 
For  them  his  ears  gushed  blood  ;  for  them  in  death 
The  seal  on  the  cold  ice,  with  piteous  bark, 
Lay  full  of  darts  ;  for  them  alone  did  seethe 
A  thousand  men  in  troubles  deep  and  dark  : 
Half  ignorant  they  turned  an  easy  wheel 
That  set  sharp  racks  at  work,  to  pinch  and  peel." 

It  seems  as  if  it  were  an  inevitable  adjunct  to  men's 
progress  in  wealth  and  prosperity,  that  there  could  be 
merchandise  not  only  in  objects  of  splendour,  but  also  in 
the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  "  History,"  says  a  great 
historian,  "  is  indeed  little  more  than  the  register  of  the 
crimes,  follies,  and  misfortunes  of  mankind."  Slaves?  you 
will  say.  "  Did  not  our  fathers  abolish  the  slave-trade  t " 
Yes,  they  did  !  by  the  noblest  and  most  Christian  act  that 
ever  emanated  from  a  Christian  Legislature  !  And  would  to 
God  we  were  not  content  merely  to  praise  the  deed  of  our 
fathers,  but  would  ourselves  diversify  the  pettiness  of  end- 
less political  janglings  by  some  heroic  deeds  of  beneficent 
Christian  legislation,  as  might  yet  prove  that  we  are  a 
great  and  God-fearing  nation.  But  you  will  say,  "  At  any 
rate  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  slaves  now.  Is  it  not 
our  proudest  boast  that  no  slave  can  ever  set  foot  on 
English  soil,  for  the  soil  of  England  sets  him  free  ?  That 
no  slave  can  tread  an  English  ship — that  in  any  port,  all 
over  the  world,  the  touch  of  its  plank  has  set  him  free." 
Yes,  and  I  say  again,  Would  to  God  that  the  example  of 
our  fathers  were  ever  a  fresh  inspiration  to  the  courage 
and  bold  initiative  of  our  statesmanship  in  social  re- 
formation !  for  meanwhile  our  merchandise,  like  that  of 
Rome,  still  includes  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  Bodies, 
for  that  is  the  literal  word  for  slaves.     The  slave  tends  to 


234  PLATFORM  AIDS—TEMPERANCE, 

become  a  body,  to  become  what  the  ancients  called  him,  "  a 
live  chattel,"  "  a  talking  instrument."  And  tens  of  thou- 
sands among  us — tens  of  thousands,  whose  interests  we 
ought  most  tenderly,  most  anxiously  to  consider — are 
forced  for  daily  bread  to  lead  very  hard,  and  wretched,  and 
servile  lives.  Look  at  the  poor  storm-beaten  fishermen  of 
our  coasts,  often  barely  able  to  snatch  food,  as  they  are 
tossed  day  and  night  on  the  stormy  surge,  and  wrapped  in 
the  blinding  spray,  while  their  children  stare  out  into  the 
storm,  and  their  wives  weep  out  their  aching  hearts.  Look 
at  our  police  standing  for  long  hours  of  the  night,  exposed 
to  frequent  peril,  bearing  the  lonely  darkness,  the  streaming 
rain,  the  biting  wind,  the  stinging  hail.  Look  at  the  poor 
seamstresses — 

"  Work,  work,  work  ! 

From  weary  chime  to  chime  ; 
Work,  work,  work  ! 

As  prisoners  work  for  crime. 
Band  and  gusset,  and  seam, 
Seam  and  gusset,  and  band, 
Till  the  heart  is  sick,  and  the  brain  benumbed, 
As  well  as  the  weary  hand." 

Look  at  the  200,000  shopmen  and  shopwomen  in  London 
alone,  of  whom  many  are  employed  between  80  and  90 
hours  a  week,  standing  with  cruel  fatigue  in  bad  gas-poi- 
soned air,  13,  15,  sometimes  even  18  hours  a  day,  till  the 
brain  swims,  till  the  eyes  are  weary,  till  they  are  worn  out 
physically,  mentally,  and  spiritually,  afflicted  with  spine 
diseases,  smitten  in  growth  with  premature  old  age,  through 
the  thoughtlessness  of  men  and  women,  ever  multiplying 
among  us  a  feebler  and  sicklier  progeny,  and  making  our 
great  cities  the  graves  of  the  physique  of  our  race,  till  one 
who  has  seen  the  conditions  of  many  millions,  even  in 
countries  where  despotism  is  untrammelled,  says  that  even 
under  bad  governments,  and  amid  horrid  superstitions,  he 
has  never  seen  a  more  grinding  drudgery.  Listen  again  to 
the  cry  of  the  unemployed  in  this  great  city  who  cannot 
get  work  in  these  hard  times ;  read  the  heart-rending 
accounts  of  men,  faint  and  weak  from  lack  of  food,  gaunt 
and  haggard,  with  hollow  eyes  and  famished  faces,  besieg- 
ing the  dock  gates  from  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  get 
one  poor  day's  job.     Look  at  what  a  living  man  of  science 


THE  SHADOWS  OF  CIVILISATION,  235 

has  called  the  great  Serbonian  bog  of  deadness,  and  dul- 
ness,  and  misery,  and  degradation,  worse  than  that  of  the 
savage,  which  may  some  day  swallow  up  the  surface  crust 
of  our  civilisation,  and  then  ask  whether  we  in  this  city  also 
have  not  our  hapless  slaves  ?  Slaves  often  more  wretched 
and  more  hard-pressed  by  far  than  those  of  ancient  days ; 
slaves  for  whose  refuge,  unlike  the  ancient  Athenians,  we 
erect  no  altar  of  Pity  ;  slaves  who,  night  after  night,  in 
hunger  and  misery,  without  one  ray  of  comfort,  await  as 
their  chiefest  hope  the  day  when  God  shall  curtain  their 
staring  eyes  with  the  merciful  film  of  death.  Is  it  not 
"lamentable  to  think  how  great  a  proportion  of  all  the 
efforts  and  talents  in  the  world  are  spent  in  neutralising 
one  another  ?"  Can  any  thoughtfulness  of  ours  and  of  our 
rulers  be  too  deep  to  prevent  this  wretched  waste  ?  Ought 
we  not  daily  to  pray,  "  Oh,  let  the  sorrowful  sighing  of  these 
prisoners  come  before  Thee.  Through  the  greatness  of  Thy 
power  save  Thou  those  that  are  appointed  to  die  }  "  And 
praying  ought  we  not,  individually  and  nationally,  to  labour 
also  for  that  end  .'' 

6.  "  And  slaves,  and  souls  of  men."  For  there  are  forms 
of  slavery  more  pitiable,  of  thraldom  more  abject,  of  self- 
chosen  serfdom  to  demon  masters  far  worse  than  the  yoke 
of  poverty  and  toil.  The  fact  is,  but  for  sin  and  self-indul- 
gence there  would  be  but  little  pauperism.  Look  at  our 
slaves  to  drink  !  Can  any  slavery  be  more  hideous,  more 
grinding,  more  dehumanising,  than  that  of  our  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  drunkards,  and  persons  fond  of  drink,  whose 
Hves  are  ruined,  whose  powers  are  blighted,  whose  health 
is  poisoned,  whose  brains  are  maddened,  whose  wives  and 
families  are  trampled  down  into  unspeakable  degradation 
in  consequence  of  this  deadly  crave  which  drink  creates  .'' 
Who  slew  all  these  1  Who  is  it  who  plunges  so  many 
bodies  and  souls  of  men  into  the  cell  of  the  madman,  and 
the  grave  of  the  suicide?  Who  is  responsible  for  the 
execrable  system  of  multiplied  temptation  which  causes  so 
many  to  be  rather  damned  into  the  world,  than  born  into 
the  world  ;  and  which,  now  for  so  many,  many  years,  has 
cried  aloud  for  vengeance  to  a  long-suffering  God,  because 
of  the  disease,  the  curse,  the  crime,  the  misery  which  it 
entails  upon  slaves  and  the  souls  of  men  1  I  say  it  with 
the  whole  fulness  of  knowledge,  with  the  whole  strength  of 


236  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

.  conviction — England  will  never  be  out  of  deadly  peril  till 
she  has  had  the  moral  courage  to  deal  adequately  with  the 
question  of  drink.  And  are  there  not  also  among  us 
myriads  of  men  and  women  who  are  slaves  to  their  lowest 
passions  ?  How  awful  is  the  thought  6f  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  men,  who,  by  violation  of  God's  high,  beneficent, 

^eternal  law  of  purity,  fill  their  whole  being  with  the  seeds 
of  death  !  Their  bones  are  full  of  the  sin  of  their  youth 
which  shall  lie  down  with  them  in  the  grave.  Physicians 
— so  I  am  assured  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  amongst 
them — are  coming  more  and  more  to  the  conclusion,  that, 
apart  from  accident  and  a  i^\N  epidemics,  there  is  scarcely 
a  single  form  of  the  terrible  diseases  which  scourge  man- 
kind which  does  not  find  its  origin  or  its  intensification  in 
drink  or  in  uncleanness  ;  in  the  vice  and  self-indulgence  of 
men,  or  of  their  fathers.  And  how  terrible  is  the  fact  that, 
in  generation  after  generation,  new  victims  of  sin  and  self- 
indulgence,  pouring  oil  of  vitriol  on  the  roses  of  their  youth, 
recruit  the  miserable  army  from  the  ranks  of  blighted 
womanhood  and  ruined  manhood,  heaping  on  themselves 
the  sore  retribution  which,  unknown  perhaps  to  any  but 
God,  shall  yet  lie  down  with  them  in  the  grave,  and  be 
handed  by  hereditary  transmission  to  blast  the  happiness 
and  help  in  destroying  the  souls  of  their  innocent  children  ! 
How  terrible  is  the  fact  that,  generation  after  generation, 
men,  like  natural  brute  beasts,  made  to  be  taken  and 
destroyed,  corrupt  themselves  in  the  things  that  they 
know,  and  utterly  perish  in  their  own  destruction !  Oh,  as 
we  walk  these  streets  of  London,  so  beset  with  horrible 
pitfalls  for  the  inexperienced  ;  so  polluted  with  manifold 
temptations  for  the  innocent  and  the  young  ;  when  we 
witness  the  shameless  efforts  of  the  inventors  of  evil  things 
to  entrap  to  their  ruin  unwary  souls ;  when  the  great 
thoroughfares  are  crowded  with  those  most  wretched  and 
most  degraded  of  all  earth's  daughters  of  an  unutterable 
shame,  matched  by  a  yet  more  unutterable  misery,  which 
selfish,  heartless,  corrupted  men  trample  down  into  the 
horrible  mire  and  clay  of  earth's  deepest  anguish  for  the 
sake  of  their  own  violent  passions,  receiving  into  their  own 
blood  the  recompense  of  death  ;  when  one  knows  that, 
under  the  very  shadow  of  the  greatest  monuments  of  the 
faith  of  our  fathers,  are  places   so  tainted   with   sickening 


THE  SHADOWS   OF  CIVILISATION.  i^-j 

immorality  as  to  be  like  great  plague  spots  of  temptation  ; 
when  we  see  the  poor  so  huddled  together  in  foul  streets 
that  scarcely  a  public  opinion  in  favour  of  chastity  is  left 
among  them,  and  the  young  girl  who  has  sold  to  the 
enemy  of  man  the  eternal  jewel  of  her  soul,  comes  back 
without  one  touch  of  shame,  with  the  baseborn  child 
doomed  in  its  turn  to  drink,  and  infamy,  and  death  ;  when 
we  know  all  that  we  do  know  of  the  working  of  all  these 
mysteries  of  iniquity ;  when,  amid  the  tide  of  being  which 
surges  past  us  in  the  street,  we  see  so  many  wrecks,  so 
many  bodies  wanting  soul,  so  many  base  ignoble  faces  of 
the  lost,  so  many  who  have  sold  themselves  to  drink  and  to 
the  devil,  and  to  work  all  uncleanness  with  greediness  ; 
when  through  the  hollow  clay  of  our  civilization  we  watch 
the  dribbling  of  these  streams  of  tears  and  blood — of  tears 
that  are  not  the  tears  of  penitence,  of  blood  which  is  not 
the  blood  of  atonement — must  we  not  admit  that  London 
too  is  in  part  a  habitation  of  demons,  and  a  cage  of  every 
unclean  and  hateful  bird,  and  that  among  us,  too,  amid  all 
our  splendour  and  luxury,  there  is  a  merchandise  of  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men  ? 

7.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  countless  slaves  of  Mam- 
mon, and  of  the  countless  slaves  to  the  lying  voice  of 
public  opinion.  My  object  has  only  been  to  point  out 
how  solemn  is  our  need  for  thoughtfulness,  for  personal 
and  for  national  self-humiliation,  for  deep  repentance,  for 
consideration  alike  of  our  public  and  private  duties.  Par- 
liament has  met  once  more  under  circumstances  of  deep 
seriousness.  There  is  gloom  abroad  ;  there  is  depression 
at  home.  We  waver  and  are  divided,  and  hardly  recognise 
what  we  ought  to  do.  Our  thoughts  are  so  full  of  Egypt 
that  no  one  has  any  time  to  consider  the  awful  needs  of 
England  ;  our  feelings  are  so  harassed  about  our  poor 
soldiers  in  Korti  that  no  one  can  attend  to  the  social 
wreckage  wrought  on  hundreds  of  thousands  by  drink, 
and  vice,  and  fraud,  and  oppression  here  in  London.  Who 
knows  what  may  be  in  store  for  us }  Are  we  being  swept 
on  irresistibly  to  some  great  catastrophe  which  shall  decide 
for  a  thousand  years  our  national  destiny  }  Shall  the  sun 
of  England  set  in  the  desert  of  Egypt  as  the  sun  of  Athens 
set  in  the  Bay  of  Syracuse  }  Have  we  by  our  shame  and 
sins  of  so  many  kinds,  by  our  want  of  Godliness  and  our 


238  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

want  of  manliness,  by  our  imnnoral  acquiescence  in  pre- 
ventable evils,  by  our  Mammon-worship,  and  our  injustice, 
and  want  of  love  to  God  and  man — have  we  deserved  God's 
judgments  ?  Or  alone  of  all  nations  and  kingdoms  shall 
England  be  exempt  from  the  doom  of  the  mighty  Angel 
of  Justice  ?  Have  no  cities,  great  as  this,  promised  them- 
selves immortality  ?  Where  are  Palmyra  and  Thebes  ? 
Where  are  Nineveh  and  Carthage  ?  Where  is  the  Tower 
of  Belus  and  the  hanging  gardens  of  Semiramis  ?  Are 
they  not  the  stories  of  emptiness  ?  Has  not  the  line  of 
confusion  been  stretched  over  them?  What  became  of 
the  Rome  of  the  Pagan  Caesars  ? 

"  The  abhorred  form 
Whose  scarlet  robe  was  stiff  with  earthly  pomp, 
Who  drank  iniquity  in  cups  of  gold, 
Whose  names  were  many,  and  with  blasphemous 
Oaths  met  the  horrible  judgment  ! " 

Shall  no  harm  ever  come  nigh  us  ?  Shall  the  rich  ever 
grow  richer,  and  the  miserable  ever  grow  with  a  more 
eternal  hunger  ?  Shall  we  still  surround  the  steps  of  the 
drunkard  Vv^ith  flaming  pitfalls  ?  Shall  greedy  owners  still 
huddle  the  poor  into  infamous  slums  and  lairs,  and  shall 
no  voice  cry,  and  no  brand  smite  ? 

Two  points  there  are  of  brightness  among  the  gloom. 
One  the  spontaneous  loyalty  of  our  great  colonies,  which, 
like  angels  many  and  strong,  have  sprung  forward  to  the 
aid  of  their  weakened  and  troubled  motherland.  The 
other,  that  this  age  has  produced  among  her  conspicuous 
sons  at  least  one  man — one  man  of  high  purity  and  noble- 
ness— who,  in  this  decadence  of  all  England's  old  heroic 
simple  virtues,  has  shown  a  sovereign  self-possession,  a 
supreme  contempt  for  the  death  we  all  fear,  a  supreme 
contempt  for  the  money  we  all  worship,  a  supreme  con- 
tempt for  the  babbling  and  blatant  voices  which  we  all 
take  for  fame.  We  had  him  and  we  knew  not  how  to 
preserve  him  ;  we  put  him  in  the  forefront  of  our  battle 
and  retired,  and  he  has  been  slain.  And  he,  at  least,  has 
proved  to  us  that  the  heart  of  the  world,  while  it  cares 
nothing  (why  should  it  care  })  for  whole  armies  of  idlers, 
and  chatterers,  and  gilded  youth,  and  smooth  ecclesiastics, 
and  self-seeking  politicians,  and  Churchmen  with  the  view 


THE  SHADOWS  OF  CIVILISATION.  239 

of  worldlings,  and  worldlings  with  the  thin  veneer  of 
Cliurchmanship — the  nations,  while  they  care  nothing  for 
the  facing-both-ways,  and  the  pickers  and  stealers,  and 
h'ars  and  slanderers,  and  luxurious  self-seekers,  and  fools 
grown  insolent  with  fooling,  have  known. how  to  recognise 
a  true  man,  at  least  when  he  is  dead  ;  and  from  the  banks 
of  the  Guadalquivir  to  the  Seine,  yea,  from  Pekin  to 
Moscow,  in  all  the  five  great  continents,  and  in  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  have  been  able  to  discriminate  between  the 
glitter  of  mere  tinsel  and  God's  own  gold.  Among  the 
slaves  of  our  wealth  and  of  our  iniquity,  oh  !  may  God 
give  us  more  such  men  as  he  !  Among  the  multitudes 
of  souls  taken  captive  by  Mammon,  and  eaten  away  by 
pride,  and  selfishness,  and  vice,  may  God  give  more  of  us 
grace  to  walk  as  he  did  in  the  steps  of  his  Master,  Christ, 
working  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling. 
Only  in  the  righteousness  of  good  and  holy  men  shall  be 
the  deliverance  of  England.  Then,  and  so,  shall  all  perils 
be  averted,  when  our  sons  and  our  daughters  grow  up  in 
the  fear  of  God  and  the  service  of  His  Christ ;  when  we 
ourselves  learn  above  all  things  to  do  justice,  and  love 
mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  our  God  ;  when  we  halt  no 
longer  between  two  opinions  ;  when  we  burst  the  bondage 
of  Mammon,  and  drink,  and  lust ;  when  we  learn  to  hate 
and  abhor  lies,  and  to  control  our  passion  and  mortify 
our  selfishness  ;  when  we  turn  to  God  with  all  our  hearts  ; 
when  we  learn  to  love  righteousness  and  hate  iniquity  ; 
then  shall  iniquity  not  be  our  ruin ;  then  shall  the  axe, 
uplifted  haply  to  its  backmost  poise,  be  checked  in  mid 
air  ;  then  though  clouds  dark  and  ominous  loom  on  the 
horizon,  they  shall  not  blot  out  our  sky ;  and  though  the 
lightnings  begin  to  flicker  overhead  for  our  warning,  the 
day  may  yet  be  averted  (may  God  grant  it)  when  they  shall 
smite,  and  blaze,  and  burn  as  those  which  fell  on  the  Cities 
of  the  Plain. 


24a  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 


XV.    Launch  into  the  Deep.     By  Rev.  J.  C.  Edghill, 

D.D. 

^^  Now  when  He  had  left  speakhig^  He  said  unto  Simo?t,  Launch 
out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught. 
.  .  .  And  Simon  answer i7ig  said  unto  Him,  Master,  we 
have  toiled  all  the  nighty  and  have  taken  notlwig;  neverthe- 
less, at  Thy  word  I  will  let  doivn  the  net." — Luke  v.  4,  5. 

It  was  a  very  hard  command  ;  it  was  unexpected  and 
unexplained  ;  it  was  a  special  trial  to  St.  Peter's  faith,  for 
he  was  a  fisherman,  and  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  who 
gave  the  command,  was  a  carpenter.  Peter  had  been 
fishing  all  his  life,  he  knew  the  likeliest  time  and  the 
likeliest  place  for  a  draught.  It  is  very  difficult  to  yield 
up  oneself,  in  what  we  feel  we  certainly  know,  to  one  whose 
knowledge  we  are  doubtful  of,  and  of  which  we  have  no 
evidence.  I  think  this  is  what  Jesus  Christ  demanded 
when  He  said  to  Peter,  "  Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and 
let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught."  It  was  a  hard  com- 
mand, and  it  came  just  when  they  were  worn  out,  tired 
and  disappointed.  During  the  night  they  had  worked  with 
a  will,  they  had  put  forth  all  their  powers,  all  their  skill 
and  strength,  and  now  the  morning  came,  and  their  toil 
was  still  unrewarded  ;  they  were  unsuccessful  and  dis- 
appointed, yet  Jesus  Christ  came  to  them  at  this  moment 
and  said,  "  Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your 
nets  for  a  draught."  Now,  when  it  is  most  unlikely  ;  now, 
when  the  sun  is  clear  in  the  sky ;  now,  when  the  stillness 
of  the  lake  is  disturbed  by  many  a  boat ;  now,  when  there 
is  a  hum  of  voices  off  the  shore — "  Now,  launch  out  into 
the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  in  the  expectation  and 
certainty  of  a  draught."  Is  it  not  natural  that  Peter  should 
say,  "  Master  we  have  toiled  all  night  and  have  taken  no- 
thing, we  have  worked,  we  have  striven  hard,  we  did  not 
cease  to  work  till  every  effort  seemed  fruitless,  and  now 
Thou  sayest  launch  out  into  the  deep  }  "  We  can  almost 
see  into  St.  Peter's  soul  ;  he  is  an  open  and  a  frank  man  ; 
there  is  a  struggle  going  on,  he  looks  at  the  lake,  and  he 
feels  that  another  venture  will  be  but  another  failure,  and 
he  looks  at  Jesus,  and'  there  is  something  in  His  face  and 
something  in  His  word  which  tells  of  supernatural  power, 


LAUNCH  INTO   THE  DEEP.  241 

and  Peter  says  ''  Master,  in  spite  of  my  experience,  in  spite 
of  all  probabilities,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  all  the  fishermen 
of  this  lake  will  laugh  at  us,  at  Thy  word  I  will  let  down 
the  net."  And  so  they  launched  out  into  the  deep,  and  let 
down  the  nets  at  Christ's  command,  and  the  shoal  of  fish 
was  so  great  and  mighty  that  their  nets  were  beginning 
to  break,  and  Peter's  soul  is  won  to  the  Lord  ;  the  Master 
becomes  the  Lord.  That  scene  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee  has 
long  since  passed  away,  but  Jesus  Christ  speaks  to  us 
through  it  to-day.  He  no  longer  confronts  Peter  by  that 
flashing  water,  but  He  stands  face  to  face  wMth  us — wearied, 
disappointed  men  and  women,  and  gives  His  command  to 
launch  out  into  the  deep  and  let  down  the  nets  for  a 
draught.  Let  us  take  this  word  of  Jesus,  this  command  of 
Jesus,  and  this  answer  of  Peter,  first  with  reference  to  our 
own  souls,  and  then  with  reference  to  our  own  work  ; 
especially  the  work  of  the  Society,  which  we  lay  before 
God  to-night. 

First,  then,  with  reference  to  ourselves.  Life  for  most 
of  us  is  profoundly  disappointing  and  discouraging  ;  we 
determine  to  give  ourselves  to  Christ,  to  put  down  the 
sins  that  do  so  easily  beset  us,  we  repent  of  them,  we  turn 
from  them,  we  turn  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  to  God,  and  when  we  have  turned,  we 
behold  the  figure  of  Jesus  on  the  Cross,  and  there  comes 
to  us  from  His  lips  words  of  comfort.  We  cannot  gaze  on 
that  figure  without  feehng  "  He  loved  me,  and  gave  Him- 
self for  me.  He  can.  He  will.  He  does  forgive  all  my 
guilty  past,"  and  then  we  start  out  in  the  joy  of  that 
assured  forgiveness  with  high  hopes  of  holiness,  perhaps, 
and  wdth  thoughts  of  continued  advance,  and  then  soon  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  battle  and  strife  in  the 
wilderness.  We  find  that  our  view  of  the  Christian  life  is 
a  mistake,  and  we  are  disappointed — depressed.  We  lose 
heart  and  hope,  and  we  say — it  is  wrung  from  us  by  bitter 
experience — "Master,  we  have  toiled  all  night  and  have 
taken  nothing."  Now,  to  such  disappointed  souls,  the 
words  of  Peter  to  Christ  convey  the  secret  of  life  and  hope. 
Master,  we  acknowledge  it  all.  We  have  failed.  Oh,  how 
utterly  !  Oh  how  terribly  !  We  have  lost  heart  in  the  strife. 
It  seems  as  if  these  sins  will  pursue  us  to  the  bitter  end  ; 
but,  nevertheless,  in  spite  of  failures,  let  us  again  renew  the 

R 


242  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

attack.  Christian  life  is  indeed  a  perpetual  warfare  with  an 
undying  foe.  Nevertheless,  we  will  go  on.  Our  troops  in 
the  Soudan  have  been  longing  in  these  last  weeks  that  they 
might  meet  the  enemy  face  to  face,  and  in  one  battle,  how- 
ever great  the  loss,  complete  the  work.  Is  it  not  so  with 
us  }  Do  we  not  long  to  have  some  upstanding  fight  with 
that  terrible  foe,  and  then  to  have  it  over  ?  Instead  of 
that  we  are  harassed  on  every  side  by  his  attacks,  and 
they  seem  never  to  end.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  this, 
though  we  are  so  often  defeated,  let  us  in  the  power  of 
Christ  never  yield,  but  still  go  on  hoping,  even  if  it  be 
against  hope,  and  in  the  end  we  shall  be  more  than  con- 
querors. 

And  then  surely,  dear  friends,  this  word  of  St.  Peter  and 
this  message  of  Christ  does  bring  to  us  in  reference  to 
the  work  of  this  Society  lessons  which  we  need  to  learn. 
Jesus  Christ  spoke  to  St.  Peter,  and  to  those  that  were 
with  him,  as  to  His  workers.  They  were  workers,  they 
were  those  whom  He  was  now  to  send  in  His  Church  to 
work  for  Him,  and  this  miracle  is  the  miracle  for  workers  ; 
it  tells  us  what  to  expect  and  how  we  are  to  work. 
"  Launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a 
draught,"  is  the  message  of  the  Lord  to  all  who  work  for 
Him.  It  came  home  years  ago  to  the  hearts  of  those  men 
now  honoured  in  the  Church,  who  founded  this  Society, 
and  bade  the  Church  launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  let 
down  their  nets  for  a  draught,  and  they  have  banded  it  on 
to  us.  Surely,  dear  friends,  when  we  look  out  into  this 
world  we  are  struck  by  its  misery,  by  the  marvellous  con- 
trasts there  are  in  it,  by  the  sad  inequalities.  Side  by  side 
with  the  marvellous  material  progress  that  there  is  around 
us,  there  is  abject  misery  and  wretchedness.  Side  by  side 
with  all  that  is  grand  and  beautiful,  there  is  much  that  is 
hideous  and  dispiriting.  Men  are  utterly  victimised  by 
their  own  weakness,  and  women  are  sacrificed  in  thousands 
by  the  lusts  and  passions  of  men.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  misery,  we  see  it  on  every  hand.  We  may  in- 
deed close  our  eyes  to  it  thoroughly  if  we  will,  and  refuse 
to  see  anything  outside  the  closed  sanctuaries  of  our  own 
luxurious  peace,  but  if  we  do  we  are  none  of  Christ's,  for 
He  faced  evil.  He  gathered  around  Him  every  kind  of 
evil,  so  much  so,  that  when  He  was  on  earth  you  know  He 


LAUNCH  INTO    THE  DEEP.  243 

looked  up  to  heaven,  and  sighed  as  He  saw  the  misery  that 
abounded.  And  when  the  command  comes  to  us,  as  it 
does  come,  to  launch  out  into  the  deep  of  this  world's 
wretchedness  and  misery,  do  we  not  find,  if  we  attempt  to 
do  so,  that  the  one  great  cause  of  the  many  causes  com- 
bined is  the  drink  ?  We  go  into  our  prisons,  and  we  ask 
the  chaplains  and  the  governors  of  the  prisons,  what  has 
brought  about  the  misery  there?  It  has  been  my  lot,  in 
the  last  few  years,  to  be  stationed  in  a  garrison  town, 
where  there  is  a  large  convict  prison,  and  every  day  well- 
nigh,  I  used  to  meet  hundreds  of  these  men  being  marched 
to  the  public  works,  and  when  I  spoke  to  the  chaplains 
about  it,  the  answer  came  back  that  directly  or  indirectly 
this  drink  had  much  to  do  with  bringing  about  the  misery. 
It  is  a  fruitful  source  of  misery,  who  does  not  know  it? 
Which  of  us,  especially  amongst  the  Clergy,  does  not  know 
many  a  man  of  our  own  order  who  has  lost  everything 
simply  and  solely  through  this  sin  ?  Which  of  us  cannot 
recall  some  brother  who  has  stood  before  us,  and  begged, 
it  may  be,  for  another  trial,  and  the  sweat  has  come  upon 
his  brow  as  we  have  had  to  tell  him  the  impossibility  of 
recall  ?  Which  of  us  is  there  that  has  not  sighed  for  a 
face  haunting  him  in  the  silent  night,  when  he  wakes  up 
and  his  thoughts  wander  ?  Oh,  the  misery  it  brings.  The 
letters  that  come  from  wives  and  mothers,  beseeching  and 
entreating  that  husbands  may  again  be  tried  in  the  battle 
of  life  where  they  have  before  so  grievously  failed,  how 
they  wring  the  heart !  Misery  !  what  misery  the  drink 
brings  ?  There  stands  by  the  coffin  of  a  dead  child,  a 
mother.  Her  heart  is  well-nigh  broken  ;  she  is  taking  the 
last  look  at  the  child  that  has  been  her  comfort  and  stay, 
when  suddenly  the  door  is  pushed  open  and  in  comes  the 
husband.  Surely  he  has  come  to  comfort  and  console. 
Surely  he  will  take  her  by  the  hand,  and  kneel  down 
and  say,  "  Wife,  we  must  be  all  in  all  to  one  another 
now."  What  does  he  do  ?  Within  a  i^\M  moments  blows 
are  heard  \.\\  that  room,  and  a  husband,  brutalised  by  drink, 
in  the  presence  of  his  dead  child,  batters  and  beats  his  wife 
because  she  cannot  tear  herself  away  in  a  moment  to  fetch 
for  him  some  of  her  own  hard-earned  money,  that  he  may 
spend  it  in  drink.  Oh  !  the  miseries  that  come  from  drink  ! 
There  lies  a  dying  woman,  her  face  is  that  of  an  angel  j  she 


244  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE, 

has  learned  patience  in  suffering,  she  has  learned  to  look 
upon  the  Saviour's  face  until  her  own  has  something  of 
His  unearthly  glory.  Gradually  she  is  sinking  away  under 
that  fell  scourge  of  consumption.  Her  husband  comes  in 
day  by  day  from  his  work,  his  question  is,  "You  here  still  ?  " 
Brother  men,  is  that  what  we  are  ?  Can  we  come  to  that  t 
Is  there  anything  in  this  world  to  make  us  like  that  but 
drink  ?  Worse  remains.  I  speak  that  which  my  own  eyes 
have  seen,  my  own  ears  have  heard.  A  brother  sends  to  a 
dying  woman  a  few  delicacies  to  cheer  her  last  moments, 
and  one  who  lived  in  that  house,  with  that  wonderful 
charity  and  love  that  comes  out  from  the  hearts  of  the 
poor,  making  us  understand  how  they  may  be  God's  elect, 
leads  her  to  give  up  her  time  to  attend  to  this  poor  dying 
woman  for  nought.  But  the  mother  and  the  sister  of  the 
dying  woman  come  to  see  her,  and  they  take  the  little 
delicate  food  which  had  been  sent  to  the  woman  just  about 
to  sink  into  the  grave — they  take  it  and  eat  it  before  her 
eyes  and  refuse  to  give  her  one  morsel  of  it,  and  when  the 
poor  soul,  in  her  utter  weariness,  sinks  to  sleep  for  a 
moment,  they  take  a  purse  from  beneath  the  pillow  and 
rob  her  of  the  single  shilling  she  has.  We  talk  of  the 
inequalities  of  life,  and  sometimes  we  cannot  understand 
them ;  but,  dear  friends,  God  never  meant  them  to  be  as 
they  are.  It  is  the  passions  and  the  lusts  of  men  that  have 
made  them  so.  Take  away  the  drink  and  the  evils  that 
come  from  it,  and  you  have  done  much,  very  much,  to  rid 
life  of  these  awful,  piercing,  painful  inequalities  that  make 
us  sometimes  wonder  whether  there  is  a  God  that  judgeth 
the  earth  or  not. 

Well,  then,  dear  friends,  we  can  understand  why  the 
hearts  of  men,  who  founded  this  Society  years  ago,  were 
moved  with  pity  as  they  looked  out  at  the  wretchedness 
of  life — moved  with  pity  to  found  this  Society  to  rescue 
men  from  this  terrible  foe.  God  be  thanked  that  they  did 
so.  It  was  the  Holy  Spirit  that  inspired  them  to  give 
this  command  to  the  Church — "  Launch  out  into  the  deep, 
and  let  down  the  net  for  a  draught."  We  need  the  com- 
mand now  almost  as  much,  for  no  services,  however 
beautifully  rendered,  and  no  sermon,  however  eloquently 
preached,  can  touch  those  whose  Church  is  the  public- 
house   and   whose   prayer-books  have    handles   to  them. 


LAUNCH  INTO    THE  DEEP.  245 

"  Launch  out  into  the  deep,"  is  the  command,  and  this 
Society  helps  us  to  do  it.  Go  where  the  fish  are — catch 
them  for  X\i^  and  not  for  death.  The  command  is  needed 
now,  for  this  Church  of  ours  has  not  altogether  risen  up 
to  it. 

In  the  last  few  months  three  militia  regiments  have 
been  employed  on  permanent  service.  They  came  from 
English  counties  and  English  towns.  Four-fifths  of  them, 
to  say  the  least,  were  members  of  this  National  Church  by 
name,  by  profession,  so  that  in  those  three  regiments  there 
were  above  2,000  men.  Now,  we  chaplains  have,  in  one 
sense,  a  very  accurate  gauge  of  the  influence  and  power 
the  Church  of  England  has  on  these  masses  of  people  from 
whom  the  recruits  are  drawn.  There  were  2,000  men,  mil- 
itia, and  yet  on  Easter-day  there  was  not  one  who  knelt 
before  the  altar  of  God.  More  than  that,  out  of  those  2,000 
men  there  was  not  one  who  was  commended  to  the  chap- 
lains of  the  stations  to  which  they  were  sent,  either  by 
clergyman  or  layman,  by  any  Church  Society,  or  by  any 
Temperance  Society.  Having  gone  a  little  into  the  matter 
I  have  good  reason  for  stating  that  these  men  were  in  the 
main  uninfluenced  by  the  Church  of  England,  and  are 
untouched  as  yet  by  those  influences  that  have  done  so 
much  to  gain  souls  for  Christ.  I  am  sure  of  this,  that  if  we 
want  to  touch  that  class  we  must  go  on  the  lines  of  this 
Society,  and  launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  try  and  win 
them  to  Temperance  first,  and  to  God  afterwards  ;  preach 
the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist  first,  and  then  the  loving 
words  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  thankful  that  this  Society 
has  put  this  bounden  duty  plainly  before  the  Church.  You 
have  something  else  to  do  in  the  National  Church  besides 
providing  for  the  comfort  of  your  respectable  worshippers  ; 
you  owe  a  duty  to  those  who  are  not  yet  touched.  It 
is  your  business  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.  If  you  would  justify  your  position  as  a  National 
Church,  you  must  go  out  and  catch  these  fish  where  they 
are  to  be  found,  and  bring  safe  to  land  for  life  and  not  for 
death.  I  suppose  if  we  have  ever  tried  to  carry  out  this 
command,  we  have  been  met,  as  St.  Peter  was,  by  want  of 
success,  disappointment,  and  failure ;  and  the  more  earnest 
our  efforts  have  been,  the  more  we  have  been  disappointed, 
and  the  more  we  have  had  to  confess  before  God  our  utter 


246  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

weakness  and  insufficiency  in  ourselves.    "  Master,"  we  say, 
"we  have  toiled  all  the  night  and  caught  nothing." 

Well,  dear  workers  in  this  Temperance  movement,  let  me 
speak  a  word  of  encouragement.  Do  not  despair  because 
there  has  been  apparently  a  want  of  success.  Jesus  Christ 
has  been  looking  at  you  all  through  the  night.  His  eye 
has  been  upon  you,  and  now,  at  the  most  unlikely  time 
— in  the  most  unlikely  place — He  will  give  you  the  bless- 
ing you  have  so  long  been  seeking.  Do  not  despair ;  let 
us  gather  up  the  principles  upon  which  we  must  work 
successfully.  First  of  all,  Temperance  work  must  be  done 
at  the  bidding  of  Christ.  We  welcome  many  other  at- 
tempts to  win  men  to  higher  things.  We  look  not  with 
jaundiced  eye  upon  anything  that  tends  to  men's  material 
improvement  ;  we  rejoice  at  it.  We  are  glad  to  find  that 
the  dwellings  of  the  poor  will  probably  be  bettered.  We 
delight  to  know  that  education  is  spreading.  We  cannot 
but  rejoice  in  the  uprising  everywhere  of  coffee  palaces,  or 
in  the  spread  of  the  refining  influences  of  music  and  art. 
We  rejoice  at  all  this,  but  our  principle  is  :  At  Thy  bidding, 
O  Christ,  we  let  down  the  net.  We  do  not  want  merely 
to  reform  man's  outward  condition,  but  we  want  to  con- 
vert man  to  God.  Tem.perance  work  is  but  an  accessory, 
so  to  speak.  We  aim  at  the  man's  reformation  really 
through  his  conversion.  Dear  friends,  it  must  be  with  the 
word  of  Christ,  the  word  which  tells  of  His  love,  the  love 
of  the  loving  Father,  to  every  child,  however  wandering 
he  has  been  from  Him.  This  must  be  our  strength  ;  this 
our  power, — at  Thy  word.  We  love  this  C.E.T.S.  because 
it  has  dared  to  put  in  the  forefront  this  truth — it  is  at 
the  word  and  with  the  word  of  Christ  alone  that  we  can 
succeed.  Let  us  not  merely  remember  that  saying  of  St. 
Peter,  "At  thy  word,"  but  let  us  never  forget  the  "  Never- 
theless "  of  Peter.  Oh  !  we  want  that  word  in  Temperance 
work  more  than  in  anything  else — Nevertheless.  We  say 
to  those  filled  with  despondency,  or  often  dismay  at  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil — and  when  men  go  back  again  like 
the  sow  that  is  washed  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire — 
Nevertheless  is  our  motto,  in  spite  of  it  all  we  will  not 
yield.  In  spite  of  it  all — at  the  word  of  Christ  we  will 
persevere.  "  Nevertheless,  at  Thy  word.'*  Though  we 
have  been  disappointed,  though  we  have   been   over  and 


LAUNCH  INTO   THE  DEEP.  247 

over  again  met  with  thanklessness  where  we  anticipated 
gratitude — nevertheless,  Jesus  Christ  has  taught  us  the 
infinite  preciousness  of  every  soul,  and  so  we  will  not 
yield  in  the  strife  with  evil.  "  Nevertheless,  at  Thy  word, 
we  will  let  down  the  net."  First  of  all,  those  of  you  who 
can  help  to  do  it,  let  down  the  net  of  restrictive  legislation. 
As  Mr.  Gladstone  said,  we  want  to  make  it  easy  for  the 
people  to  do  right,  and  difficult  for  them  to  do  wrong. 
We  want  alteration  of  the  law  ;  and  now  as  power  has 
descended  to  those  who  feel  the  need  of  aid  in  the  strife, 
doubt  not  that  we  shall  be  able  to  do  something  in  the 
way  of  prevention.  Let  down  the  net  of  rational  amuse- 
ment. We  want  to  fill  men's  lives  with  greater  brightness 
than  they  have  known  before.  Much  has  been  done,  but 
there  is  room  for  much  more.  Oh  !  ye  who  have  the  means 
and  the  heart  to  do  it,  take  this  as  your  net  and  let  it 
down.  Do  something  to  relieve  the  lot  of  the  poor.  Do 
something  to  do  away  with  the  infinite  misery  that  God 
never  meant  should  exist.  Do  something  to  justify  to 
men  your  own  possession  of  those  gifts  which  God  has 
given  you.  Let  down  the  net  of  total  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  drinks  as  beverages.  This  is  the  mission  net 
of  this  Society.  It  rescues  the  fish  from  the  element  of 
death,  and  brings  them  into  life.  If  5^ou  want  to  do 
anything  to  rescue  the  drunkard,  we  believe  it  must  be 
on  this  line.  Many  other  things  you  can  do.  We  cheer- 
fully accept  every  help.  We  do  not  wish  to  lay  another 
commandment  to  God's  ancient  ten.  We  do  not  wish  to 
bind  the  conscience  of  any  Christian  man  or  woman,  but 
for  the  special  work  of  reclaiming  the  drunkard  we  hold 
that  total  abstinence  is  almost  a  necessity.  I  know  what 
it  is  with  soldiers,  and  soldiers  are  men,  and  I  feel  that  the 
chaplain  who  goes  to  them,  even  with  the  general  plat- 
form of  this  Society,  which  we  welcome  and  rejoice  over, 
nevertheless  will  have  but  little  power,  because  men  want 
to  know  that  you  are  bearing  the  cross ;  that  you  want  to 
put  upon  them  that  which  you  are  willing  to  help  them^  to 
bear,  that  you  are  saying,  "  Come  with  us,  and  we  will* do 
thee  good."  This  is  what  they  expect  us  to  say.  Dear 
friends,  let  us  be  sure  of  this,  that  in  laying  down  this  net 
of  total  abstinence  we  are  but  doing  that  which  Christ 
would  allow,  for  Christ  would  approve  every  means  whereby 


248  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

we  might  save  some.  We  do  not  want  to  discuss  in  this 
place  the  different  platforms  of  the  Society.  We  acknow- 
ledge the  wise  liberty  it  gives.  We  thank  God  that  it  has 
raised  this  Temperance  question  to  a  higher  level  than  it 
ever  reached  before  through  its  wisdom,  but  we  do  claim 
the  right,  and  we  urge  the  privilege  and  the  blessing  of 
total  abstinence  for  those  who  wish  to  do  missionary 
work — the  actual  reclaiming  work  upon  the  drunkards — 
the  slaves  of  drink.  And,  again,  I  think  this  total  absti- 
nence net  ought  to  be  let  down,  especially  in  this  day,  to 
bear  a  protest,  simple  though  it  be,  against  the  abounding 
luxury  that  meets  us  on  every  hand.  Is  it  not  true  that 
men  and  women  are  living  beyond  their  means — spending 
upon  their  food,  drink,  and  dress,  that  which  they  have  no 
right  to  spend  ?  And  surely  one  protest  may  well  take 
the  form  of  total  abstinence  ;  abstaining,  not  because  we 
believe  it  to  be  absolutely  wrong,  but  because  it  is  ex- 
pedient in  the  present  distress  to  abstain  from  that  upon 
which  so  much  money  is  so  unwisely  and  wickedly  ex- 
pended }  A  protest — and  who  ought  to  bear  it  but  we 
Christians  ?  Are  we  not  to  be  a  peculiar  people  .'*  Has 
not  Christ  called  us  to  this  ?  Ought  we  not  in  society  to 
bear  the  same  protest  ?  Ought  we  not,  when  we  know  of 
this  abounding  luxury  which  is  ruining  so  many  homes,  by 
the  very  simplicity  of  our  lives  to  show  men  that  we  are 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Let  down  the  net  of  restrictive 
legislation,  rational  amusement,  and  better  dwellings  for 
the  people,  and  of  total  abstinence ;  and  let  them  all 
down  in  faith  for  a  draught,  expecting  God  to  do  some- 
thing, and  God  will  do  something.  Has  He  not  done 
much  ?  Has  He  not  answered  the  prayers  of  our  fathers 
in  this  movement  ?  Has  He  not,  by  their  influence, 
touched  the  whole  mind  and  heart  of  the  Church  ?  Is  it 
not  marvellous?  And  now  it  has  come  to  us  to  help 
and  uphold  their  hands.  Let  us  let  down  these  nets  for 
a  draught. 

Let  us  be  sure  that  success  will  attend  our  efforts  if  we 
make  them  at  His  word,  and  if,  in  the  spirit  of  that 
"  Nevertheless,"  we  let  down  all  the  nets  that  He  puts 
into  our  hands.  So,  dear  friends,  we  call  you  to  renewed 
efforts  on  behalf  of  this  grand  Society.  It  is  the  Church 
of  England  herself  in  her  aspect  towards  the  misery  that 


A   NEW   YEAR'S  ADDRESS.  249 

comes  from  drunkenness  ;  it  is  the  Church  launching  out 
into  the  deep,  not  being  contented  with  her  glorious 
services  on  the  edification  of  her  worshippers,  but  going 
out  like  her  Lord  and  Master  to  seek  first,  and  then  to 
save,  those  that  were  lost.  Christian  workers,  men  and 
women,  members  of  this  grand  Society,  "  Ye  are  the  light 
of  the  world,  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  ye  are  workers  of 
God."  Let  no  discouragement  damp  or  dull  your  faith, 
or  diminish  your  efforts.  In  spite  of  them  all,  go  on  at 
the  word  of  Christ,  at  the  bidding  of  Christ.  The  result 
is  certain,  for  Jesus  lives  ;  only  work  on,  work  ever.  Set 
before  you  the  immense  value  of  any  soul,  and  when  you 
have  reclaimed  it,  know,  realize,  that  by  God's  grace  you 
have  been  able  to  do  a  noble  work — a  work  that  Christ 
approves,  and  that  Christ  will  reward.  This  Society,  to  do 
this  work,  appeals  to  you  for  an  income  of  i^io,000  a  year. 
If  London  would  give  up  its  banquets  for  one  night,  how 
easily  this  sum  would  be  raised.  I  read  an  appeal  from 
this  Society,  in  which  it  was  said  that  more  money  was 
spent  every  hour  in  the  United  Kingdom  on  drink  than 
this  Society  wants  to  do  its  blessed  work  in  a  year.  Is  it 
not  scandalous  that  in  Christian  England  this  should  be 
the  case  ?  That  the  work  of  launching  out  into  the  deep 
should  be  stopped  and  hindered  for  want  of  a  few  pounds, 
when  every  hour  throughout  the  year  that  which  it  asks 
for,  and  does  not  get  by  one  half,  is  spent  on  useless  drink, 
and  drink  that  could  be  done  without ;  and  on  luxuries  for 
which  God  will  demand  an  account  ?  Let  us  help  it  by 
active  work,  by  our  simple  lives,  and  by  being  more  and 
more  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works.  Let  us 
help  it  by  our  alms,  as  God  has  given  us  the  blessing,  and 
so  let  us  give  it  to  them  that  this  reproach  may  be  wiped 
away — that  the  money  spent  in  drink  in  one  hour  may  not 
exceed  that  which  is  given  to  this  grand  work  of  the 
National  Church. 

XVI.     A  New  Year's  Address.     i?j  The  Ven.  Arch- 
deacon Farrar,  D.I).,  F.R.S. 

The  reason  I  came  here  to-night  is  because  the  Secretary 
told  me  I  should  meet  a  number  of  those  engaged  earnestly 
and  heartily  in  the  work  of  Bands  of  Hope.     Now  several 


250  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

members  of  my  own  family  are  extremely  earnest  workers 
in  Bands  of  Hope  in  various  parts  of  England.  I  therefore 
know  a  good  deal  about  the  work,  and  the  more  so  because 
there  are  two  flourishing  Bands  of  Hope  in  my  own  parish 
for  different  classes  of  the  children  of  the  poor.  I  know 
also  that  the  work  is  very  self-sacrificing,  often  very  monoto- 
nous, and  I  fear  fhat  in  many  parishes  it  is  a  work  carried 
on  not  only  gratuitously  but  without,  at  any  rate,  marked 
sympathy  from  those  who  are  the  authorities  in  the  parish. 
If  that  be  the  case  I  can  only  say  that  in  Christian  work, 
in  the  beneficent  work  of  the  Church,  which  is  carried  on 
simply  for  its  own  sake,  and  because  you  feel  it  to  be  great 
and  useful,  is  exactly  the  most  beautiful  and  precious  kind 
of  work  that  you  can  do,  because,  obviously,  it  is  work 
undertaken  largely  out  of  love  to  God  and  a  belief  that 
love  to  God  is  best  shown  by  love  to  man.  Therefore,  that 
being  the  case,  I  feel  that  I  could  not  possibly  spend  a  few 
moments  more  usefully  than  in  speaking  to  you  a  word  of 
encouragement,  if,  indeed,  any  word  of  mine  is  at  all  needed, 
to  inspirit  you  in  what  I  feel  to  be  a  great  and  admirable 
cause.  If  I  were  to  ask  you  the  reasons  why  so  many  of 
you,  no  doubt  engaged  as  you  are  in  laborious  occupations 
of  one  kind  and  another,  are  willing  to  give  up  your 
evenings  and  spend  them  among  the  children  of  the  poor, 
you  would  reply,  first  of  all,  that  you  feel  in  the  very 
strongest  way  the  infinite  value  of  the  soul  of  every  child 
of  man  ;  and,  secondly,  that  you  feel  the  infinite  perilous- 
ness  of  the  temptation  to  drink.  Let  me  say  one  word 
about  each  of  those  things.  First,  as  to  the  infinite  value 
of  ev^ery  human  soul,  and,  above  all,  the  souls  of  children. 
If  I  were  to  ask  where  it  was  that  we  learned  that  lesson, 
you  would,  with  one  voice,  truly  say  that  we  learned  it  from 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  If  we  look  at  the 
history  of  other  nations,  and  if  we  look  at  ancient  times, 
there  was  little  or  no  respect  for  childhood  and  infancy. 
You  know  that  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  though 
they  were  the  most  polished  people  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  yet  the  custom  of  infanticide  was  frightful.  Once 
before  the  full  Senate  of  Rome  a  noble  Roman  senator  got 
up  and,  addressing  the  four  or  five  hundred  senators  present, 
said  : — "  You  know  very  well  that  there  is  not  one  of  you 
who  has  not  got  rid  of,  who  has  not  exposed,  at  some  time 


A    NEW    YEAR'S  ADDRESS.  251 

or  other,  one  or  more  children  whom  you  did  not  wish  to 
rear."  That  simple  fact  will  show  you  how  cheaply  the 
lives  of  infants  were  valued  even  in  a  country  so  great,  so 
polished,  and  so  civilized  as  that.  It  is  the  same  now  in 
heathen  countries.  I  was  very  much  struck  once  to  read 
what  was  said  by  the  Count  de  Beaufort  who  travelled  in 
China  with  one  of  the  Orleans  Princes.  In  the  course  of  a 
single  walk  round  the  walls  of  Canton  they  had  seen  the 
bodies  of  no  fewer  than  seven  deserted  infants,  and  the 
French  Missionary  (Roman  Catholics)  women  constantly 
come  out  in  the  morning  with  a  basket,  in  order  to  rescue 
the  children  they  might  find  living  to  train  them  up  in  the 
Catholic  faith.  Thus  you  see  that  it  is  not  in  heathenism 
that  the  respect  for  children  can  be  learned,  but  you  know 
that  that  was  the  very  lesson  which  our  Lord  constantly 
inculcated.  When  the  Apostles  were  disputing  for  prece- 
dence He  took  a  little  child  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of 
them,  that  from  that  little  child  they  might  learn  the  lesson 
of  humility.  When  they  were  disputing  He  chose  a  little 
child  to  teach  them  the  lessons  of  purity  and  innocence, 
and  said  that  unless  they  would  receive  the  kingdom  of 
God  as  a  little  child  they  should  in  no  wise  enter  therein. 
You  know  also,  how,  when  the  mothers  brought  their 
children  to  Christ  and  the  disciples  rebuked  them,  our  Lord 
was  much  displeased.  He  took  them  in  His  arms,  laid  His 
hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them.  In  these  days,  be- 
cause of  that  great  lesson  which  Christ  has  taught  us,  a 
child  has  become  infinitely  precious  in  the  eyes  of  every 
Christian  man,  and  perhaps  in  those  of  many  who  have 
not  retained  a  strong  hold  on  the  Christian  faith.  The 
lessons  of  Christian  truth  and  Christian  morality  often  last 
long  after  there  has  been  a  loss  of  any  real  hold  upon  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  In  the  great  French 
Revolution  a  celebrated  prisoner,  who  was  every  moment 
expecting  to  be  hurried  off  to  the  guillotine,  wrote  these 
words  : — "  Even  at  this  incomprehensible  moment,  when 
patriotism  and  morality  and  everything  that  is  best  and 
greatest  seems  only  to  lead  more  certainly  to  the  scafiold 
or  to  the  prison,  yes,  and  even  on  the  fatal  tumbril,  if  I 
were  being  taken  on  my  road  to  the  guillotine  with  nothing 
free  but  my  voice,  I  could  still  say  '  Take  care  '  to  any 
child   who  came   too  near  the  wheels.     Who  knows  but 


252  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

what  I  might  save  his  life,  and  who  knows  whether  he 
might  not  live  to  save  his  country."  That  was  the  case  of  a 
French  philosopher  whose  hold  upon  the  Christian  faith 
was,  very  probably,  in  those  dark  days,  weakened  ;  but  we 
find  among  Christian  people,  even  among  the  very  lowest, 
humblest,  and  poorest,  the  sanctity  of  the  children  is 
infinitely  respected.  There  are  stories  of  modern  warfare 
w^here  contending  armies  on  the  verge  of  battle  have  paused 
until  a  little  child,  who  happened  to  have  strayed  between 
the  lines,  has  got  out  of  the  way.  There  are  stories  of 
disaster  at  sea  where  much  heroism  has  been  displayed  to 
save  infant  life,  as  read  for  example  the  case  of  the  loss  of 
the  Grosvenor,  told  by  Charles  Dickens.  You  can  see  in 
all  this  how  the  lesson  of  Christ  as  to  the  sacredness  of 
every  human  soul,  and  of  the  sacredness  of  the  charge 
which  a  nation  and  all  the  good  men  of  a  nation  ought  to 
take  of  its  children,  has  been  learned  very  widely  among 
all  Christian  men.  I  think  I  need  say  no  more  about  the 
preciousness  of  the  lives,  the  characters,  and  the  souls  of  the 
immense  number  of  children  whom  you  have  under  your 
charge  in  the  Bands  of  Hope.  Let  me  say  a  word  about 
the  peril  from  which  you  are  trying  to  save  these  children 
— strong  drink.  I  will  tell  you  a  sight  that  very  much 
affected  me  lately.  On  Christmas  Day  I  happened  to  be 
walking  along  the  Embankment,  and  I  saw  a  fine  young 
sailor  lad  of  about  seventeen,  hopelessly  intoxicated  and 
utterly  unable  to  walk.  He  was  supported  on  either  side 
by  friends — possibly  brothers — but  he  invariably  sank 
down  and  rolled  in  the  mire  of  the  street.  The  first 
thought  that  struck  me  was  the  possible  ruin  of  a  human 
soul  ;  and  the  second  was — wjhat  a  way  to  spend  Christ- 
mas Day.  What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  the 
publican  who  supplied  that  young  man  with  drink  ?  And 
that  was  all  that  he  could  do — trained,  no  doubt,  in  a 
Christian  country,  and  in  Christian  ways — to  express  his 
joy,  or  to  join  in  the  common  joy  we  all  feel  at  the  birth 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  It  reminded  me  at 
once  of  those  ghastly  records  that  have  now  been  published 
for  three  consecutive  years'  by  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance 
of  the  events  that  take  place  in  the  United  Kingdom 
during  the  week  from  Christmas  Day  and  the  first  week  of 
the  new  year.     I  am  speaking  to  you  the  language  of  truth 


A   NEW   YEAR'S  ADDRESS.  253 

and  soberness  when  I  say  that  I  do  not  beh'eve  any  country 
in  the  world,  or  any  epoch  of  history,  could  possibly  furnish 
so  ghastly  and  terrible  a  record  of  every  kind  of  human 
crime  and  human  misery  as  this.  The  record  is  for  the 
week  of  the  year  when  we  most  celebrate  our  home  gather- 
ings, and  when  the  hearts  of  most  of  us  are  filled  with  joy 
and  hope  ;  and  the  week  of  the  year  when  we  ought  to  be 
making  our  best  resolutions  for  the  conduct  of  another 
year — these  weeks  are  so  filled  with  crime  of  all  kinds  that 
it  becomes  almost  impossible  to  feel  that  we  are  living  in  a 
truly  Christian  land.  I  would  stake  the  whole  Temperance 
cause  simply  upon  that  evidence,  which  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  Temperance  argument,  but  is  simply 
made  up  of  cuttings  from  various  newspapers  published  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom.  In  that  record  you  will 
find  a  great  number  of  cases  of  cruelty  to  children,  and  of 
the  deaths  of  children  due  to  drink,  making  up  a  ghastly 
and  unparalleled  total  of  human  vice  and  misery  solely 
owing  to  this  one  cause.  As  I  looked  at  the  young  sailor 
I  thought  of  the  disgrace  he  had  brought  upon  his  uniform, 
of  the  disgrace  he  had  brought  upon  his  religion  and  upon 
his  family,  and,  lastly,  thought  of  the  home  to  which  he  was 
going.  What  a  fearful  thing  it  must  have  been  for  any 
home  of  which  that  lad  was  the  son.  And  then  I  thought 
of  the  lad's  future.  Possibly,  a  fine  young  fellow  like  that 
might  rise  in  his  profession,  and  might  become  commander 
of  a  ship,  but  what  would  be  the  safety  of  lives  entrusted 
to  one  like  that  ?  If  ever  you  go  round  Westminster 
Abbey  and  look  at  the  tomb  of  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel,  who 
lived  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  you  will  see  a  sculptured 
imitation  of  a  shipwreck.  Many  of  you  know  that  he  was 
returning  home  with  his  vessels  from  a  very  successful 
voyage  indeed,  when  in  all  the  joy  of  conquest  his  fieet  was 
wrecked  upon  the  Scilly  Isles,  and  every  soul  on  board 
three  of  the  vessels  perished,  including  Sir  Cloudesley 
Shovel  himself  History  says  that  the  reason  of  that  loss 
was  that  the  greater  part  of  the  crews  of  these  magnificent 
vessels  w^ere  in  a  state  of  brutal  intoxication  in  the  joy  of 
their  coming  home.  Reason  enough,  therefore,  why  one 
with  the  tastes  of  that  sailor  lad  should  not  be  entrusted 
with  precious  lives  and  property. 

After   taking   a  gloomy   outlook  in    regard   to   foreign 


254  PLATFORM  AIDS— TEMPERANCE. 

matters,  the  speaker  proceeded — I  hope  that  none  of  us 
may  Hve  to  see  the  weakening  of  the  great  name,  or  dimi- 
nution of  the  splendid  heritage  of  England,  but  I  must 
remind  you  that  not  once  or  twice  England  has  been  in 
danger  far  less  from  her  foreign  enemies  than  from  her  own 
vices,  and  if  there  be  one  thing  that  will  ever  humiliate 
England  and  drag  her  flag  down  in  the  dust  it  will  be 
exactly  with  her  as  it  has  been  with  nation  after  nation  in 
the  long  course  of  history,  that  her  vices  will  be  made  the 
instrument  to  scourge  her. 

"  Vain  mightiest  fleet  of  iron  framed, 
Vain  those  all-conquering  guns, 
Unless  proud  England  keeps  unstained 
The  true  hearts  of  her  sons." 

I  do  not  think  we  should  be  guilty  of  anything  short  of 
judicial  blindness  if  we  fail  to  recognise  that  in  times  of 
war  again  and  again  England  has  been  more  seriously 
endangered  by  the  national  vice  of  drunkenness  of  her 
soldiers  and  sailors  than  she  ever  has  been  by  the  forces  of 
the  enemy.  I  was  reading  only  yesterday  morning  in  the 
life  of  Sir  John  Moore  that  in  that  famous  retreat  to 
Corunna — which  has  been  so  magnificently  described  in 
"  The  Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore  " — he  was  so  horrified  with 
the  drunken  demoralized  British  troops,  that  he  called  them 
all  together  and  told  them  that  he  was  absolutely  ashamed 
of  them,  and  that  rather  than  they  should  continue  as  they 
were,  he  would  prefer  to  die  by  the  bullets  of  his  own  fol- 
lowers. He  said  he  regarded  them  as  being  a  greater 
disgrace  and  injury  to  the  cause  of  their  own  country  than 
the  enemy  against  whom  he  was  fighting.  In  the  Burmese 
War  the  British  were  constantly  surprised.  Not  a  single 
regiment  could  be  brought  into  action  because  the  soldiers 
had  been  indulging  in  drink.  There  was  one  exception — a 
man  who  had  a  total  abstinence  regiment.  That  man  was 
one  of  the  best,  one  of  the  greatest,  one  of  the  bravest,  and 
certainly  one  of  the  holiest  whom  England  has  had  the 
honour  of  producing — that  man  was  Sir  Henry  Havelock. 
The  General  in  that  extremity  of  danger  made  this  remark- 
able speech — "  Call  Havelock,  his  men  are  never  drunk, 
and  he  is  always  ready."  I  dare  say  you  remember  a  still 
more  emphatic  and  striking  warning  than  that,  when  the 


A   NEW    YEAR'S  ADDRESS.  255 

whole  Empire  of  India  trembled  in  the  balance,  and  that 
was  in  the  great  Indian  Mutiny,  when,  after  infinite  diffi- 
culty, and  courage,  and  fighting  battle  after  battle,  our 
army  had  at  last  advanced  to  Delhi  and  taken  the  out- 
posts ;  then  the  Sepoys,  having  left  all  the  drink  which  we 
ourselves  had  imported  into  India,  knowing  what  the  temp- 
tation of  the  English  soldier  is — the  English  under  the  very 
guns  of  the  enemy,  when  they  had  only  partially  conquered 
that  stronghold  of  the  mutiny,  rushed  upon  the  liquor 
stores,  broke  open  every  possible  place  where  there  was 
gin,  rum,  brandy,  beer,  or  ale  ;  and  the  next  day,  with  the 
whole  cloud  of  the  Sepoy  army  hanging  around  the  environ- 
ments of  the  town,  with  its  fortress  actually  frowning  upon 
them,  the  whole  of  the  British  army  were  in  a  state  of  such 
disgraceful  intoxication — Sir  John  Kaye  tells  the  story, 
and  there  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  were  there — that 
not  a  single  stroke  could  be  made  and  not  a  single  step 
undertaken  on  the  second  day  after  the  British  army  had 
reached  Delhi.  The  historian  says,  that  if  ever  there  was  a 
time  when  it  seemed  likely  that  we  should  lose  entirely  the 
whole  results  of  every  conquest  which  had  taken  place 
since  Clive,  more  than  lOO  years  before,  won  the  battle  of 
Plessy,  that  was  the  day,  and  the  cause  was  the  national 
vice  of  the  British  soldier.  If  these  warnings  of  history  are 
no  warnings  to  us  then  we  are  either  very  blind  or  not 
patriots.  If,  therefore,  at  this  hour  I  still  feel  hope  in  the 
name  and  in  the  destinies  of  England,  it  is  because  I  feel 
that  although  this  terrible  vice  is  the  danger  of  our  armies, 
there  is  at  any  rate  avast  band  of  persons  engaged  heartily 
in  the  endeavour  to  put  it  down.  We  may  not  conquer  it, 
but  our  efforts  do  tend  to  repress  it,  and  since  every  great 
movement  must,  in  the  long  run,  win  the  victory,  I  do  not 
despair  of  ultimately  keeping  down  (especially  through  the 
agency  which  you  yourselves  put  in  force)  this  deadly  vice. 
The  work  in  which  you  are  engaged  is  both  beneficent  and 
Christian.  The  peril  of  drink  which  hangs  over  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  children  is  more  frightful  than  death  in 
any  form,  and  you  are  to  the  best  of  your  power  endeavour- 
ing to  save  them  from  this  overwhelming  danger  and 
tem'ptation.  All  I  can  say  is  that  you  could  not  possibly 
be  engaged  in  a  more  sacred  or  blessed  work,  and  that 
every  one  of  you,  in  proportion  as  you  carry  on  the  work 


2S6  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

in  the  same  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  singleness  of  heart 
you  have  hitherto  shown,  will  hear  one  day  from  the  lips  of 
your  Saviour,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 


V.     MISCELLANEOUS   SECTION. 
I.     Anent  "Taking  the    Chair."     By  Rev.  J.  Hunt 

CoOKE. 

The  chairmanship  of  a  public  meeting  sometimes  involves 
grave  responsibility.  In  the  majority  of  cases  it  is  merely 
a  position  of  honour,  but  at  times  it  may  require  much 
skill,  and  an  important  meeting  may  fail  for  want  of 
efficient  conduct.  Every  gentleman  who  is  likely  ever  to 
be  called  to  such  a  position  ought  to  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  those  precedents  and  practices  which  have 
such  general  acceptance  that,  if  attended  to,  they  will  pre- 
serve order  and  give  fair  opportunity  to  all  who  desire  to 
speak.  On  this  question  there  is  no  written  law,  but  a 
recognised  method  of  procedure  to  which  it  is  well  to 
adhere. 

The  chairman  should  be  assured  first  of  all  that  he  has 
the  confidence  of  the  meeting.  If  he  has  been  advertised 
to  preside,  that  is  sufficient.  If  not,  he  should  be  elected 
by  a  show  of  hands  from  those  present  ere  he  accept  the 
post.  He  should  determine  to  act  with  strict  impartiality, 
and  resolve  that  every  one  who  has  a  right  to  speak  or 
vote  should  have  that  right  unimpeded.  And,  further, 
that  no  one  else  shall  take  part  except  by  the  clearly 
expressed  wish  of  the  meeting.  He  should  see  that  the 
secretary,  or  some  other  qualified  person,  sits  at  his  right 
hand  for  reference  on  any  subject  peculiar  to  the  society 
in  whose  interest  the  meeting  is  held. 

His  first  duty  is  to  open  the  meeting.  This  should  be 
by  a  brief  statement  of  the  object,  made  either  by  himself 
or  some  other  person  appointed  to  do  so.     He  then  calls 


ANENT  "  TAKING    THE  CHAIR:'  257 

on  the  secretary  to  read  minutes,  or  any  communications  he 
may  have.  If  the  meeting  be  of  a  religious  character,  these 
should  be  preceded  by  a  short  act  of  worship — at  the  least 
a  prayer  for  Divine  guidance.  It  is  well  to  have  an  agenda 
paper  previously  prepared,  containing  a  list  of  proceedings. 
This  should  be  rigidly  adhered  to,  and  the  business  taken 
in  the  order  laid  down,  unless  any  unforeseen  circumstances 
render  a  departure  desirable.  As  a  rule,  the  less  a  chair- 
man says,  the  better.  There  may  be  occasions  on  which  it 
is  his  duty  to  put  life  and  energy  into  the  proceedings  ; 
but  in  a  business  meeting  it  shows  wisdom  to  keep  to  the 
routine,  and  rarely  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  topics 
discussed. 

When  any  one  rises  to  propose  a  resolution,  the  chairman 
should  demand  a  copy  in  writing ;  he  may,  however, 
consent  for  some  one  present  to  prepare  it  whilst  the  pro- 
poser is  addressing  the  meeting.  The  resolution  must 
then  be  seconded,  or  it  comes  to  nought.  But  any  one 
present  may  second  it  formally  by  merely  bowing  to  the 
chairman,  and  reserve  his  right  to  speak  and  to  vote  against 
it  if  he  please.  After  a  resolution  has  been  proposed  and 
seconded,  the  chairman  should  read  it  to  the  meeting,  and 
must  allow  free  speech  to  all  who  desire  to  speak  on  the 
subject,  for  or  against.  He  may  check,  and  even  stop,  any 
speaker  who  does  not  confine  his  remarks  to  the  matter  of 
the  resolution,  although  on  this  considerable  latitude  has  to 
be  allowed  if  no  objection  be  raised.  No  one  may  speak 
twice  on  the  same  resolution,  except  the  proposer,  who  has 
the  right  of  reply.  After  his  reply  the  debate  is  at  an  end, 
and  the  vote  must  be  taken.  The  chairman  decides  as  to 
the  result,  but  must  not  object  to  his  decision  being  chal- 
lenged, when  tellers  should  be  appointed — one  or  more 
from  each  side — and  the  vote  taken  a  second  time. 

At  any  time  during  the  debate,  before  the  proposer's 
reply,  an  amendment  may  be  proposed  ;  this,  too,  needs  a 
seconder,  and  may  then  be  discussed,  and  those  who  have 
spoken  to  the  original  motion  may  speak  on  the  subject  of 
the  amendment.  The  proposer  of  an  amendment  has  a 
right  of  reply.  Then  the  chairman  reads  the  amendment, 
and  takes  a  vote  for  or  against.  But  this  vote  is  simply  to 
the  effect  that  the  resolution  be  thus  amended  ;  the  amend- 
ment has  to  be  put  again,  for  and  against,  as  a  substantive 

S 


258  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

resolution.  This  is  frequently  neglected,  but  ought  not  to 
be,  for,  strictly  speaking,  the  acceptance  of  an  amendment 
only  alters,  but  does  not  pass  the  resolution. 

After  the  amendment  is  settled,  before  the  resolution 
(amended  or  not)  is  put  to  the  vote,  another  amendment 
may  be  proposed,  seconded,  and  proceeded  with  in  a 
similar  way.  But  no  amendment  can  be  admitted  that 
will  alter  any  amendment  that  has  been  previously  carried. 
It  is  not  even  considered  proper  to  admit  an  amendment 
affecting  the  former  part  of  the  wording  of  the  original 
resolution,  if  one  affecting  any  of  the  latter  clauses  has  been 
previously  considered. 

Two  amendments  cannot  be  before  the  meeting  at  the 
same  time.  A  chairman  should  insist  on  this,  if  any  one 
present  wishes  to  alter  an  amendment,  he  can  only  do  it  by 
advising  the  meeting  to  reject  the  one  before  it,  and  under- 
taking after  its  rejection  to  introduce  the  amended  form  in 
the  regular  way. 

But,  if  no  objection  be  raised,  the  chairman  may  some- 
times simplify  business  by  permitting  the  proposer  of  a 
resolution  or  amendment  (with  the  consent  of  the  seconder) 
to  alter  its  wording,  to  meet  some  difficulties  or  desires 
expressed  during  the  debate ;  but  this  ought  not  to  be 
done  if  any  one  object.  Although  not  quite  regular,  it  is 
frequently  found  to  secure  the  unanimity  desired. 

At  any  time  during  the  meeting,  even  whilst  some  one 
is  speaking,  any  one  may  stop  the  proceedings  by  *'  rising 
to  order."  This  sometimes  tries  a  chairman.  He  must  at 
once  insist  on  the  supposed  disorder  being  stated  as  briefly 
as  possible.  If  need  be,  he  should  appeal  at  once  to  the 
secretary,  if  the  question  refer  to  any  rule  of  the  society, 
and  then  announce  his  decision,  and  proceed  in  accordance 
with  it.  If  any  one  object,  the  aggrieved  person  should 
only  be  allowed  to  hand  in  his  objection  in  writing,  to  be 
afterwards  considered,  when,  if  correct,  it  renders  the  sub- 
sequent proceedings  null  and  void.  This  is  just  the  case 
in  which  good  chairmanship  is  important,  and  he  who 
undertakes  the  office  ought  to  be  prepared  with  prompt 
and  definite  action  for  the  emergency. 

A  debate  may  be  stopped  at  the  close  of  any  speaker's 
address,  by  one  of  the  three  following  proposals  : — ist, 
That  we  now  adjourn  the  meeting.     2nd,  That  the  vote  be 


ANENT  "  TAKING   THE  CHAIR,''  259 

now  taken.  3rd,  That  we  now  pass  on  to  the  next 
business.  But  no  one  of  these  may  be  moved  by  any  one 
who  has  previously  spoken  to  the  question  before  the 
meeting,  but  when  raised  any  one  may  speak  upon  it. 

If  the  first,  "That  we  now  adjourn,"  be  carried,  that 
brings  the  meeting  to  a  close.  If  the  second,  "  That  the 
vote  be  now  taken,"  be  carried,  that  brings  the  discussion 
to  a  close,  and  the  proposer  of  the  resolution  should  be 
called  upon  to  reply,  and  the  vote  be  then  taken.  This  is 
a  very  undesirable  way  of  terminating  a  discussion,  but 
under  certain  circumstances  it  may  be  found  necessary. 
The  object  of  introducing  the  third,  "  That  we  now  pass 
on  to  the  next  business,"  is  to  avoid  coming  to  any  decision 
on  the  question.  This  is  a  far  better  way  of  leaving  the 
matter  undecided  than  by  what  is  called  "the  previous 
question." 

There  is  a  method  of  superseding  a  question  before  the 
House  of  Commons,  which  is  called  "  moving  the  previous 
question."  It  is  found  useful  there  because  well  under- 
stood. The  resolution  really  is,  "  That  the  question  be  now 
put,"  and  the  object  sought  is  the  reverse,  being  that  the 
questions  be  not  now  put ;  but  the  rules  of  the  House  do 
not  permit  a  negative  resolution,  therefore  the  proposer 
votes  against  his  own  resolution.  It  cannot  be  introduced 
when  there  is  an  amendment  before  the  House,  and  it  does 
not  stop  the  debate  on  the  main  question.  The  fact  is, 
that  it  is  not  generally  understood,  and  frequently  when 
introduced  leads  to  a  discussion  as  to  its  meaning.  So 
that  a  chairman  would  show  wisdom  by  objecting  to  its 
introduction,  and  requesting  the  proposer  to  state  his  pro- 
position in  terms  all  can  understand,  such  as  "  That  we 
at  once  pass  on  to  the  next  business,  and  leave  the  con- 
sideration and  decision  of  the  question  now  before  us  to 
some  future  time." 

It  is  an  open  question  whether  a  chairman  has  both  a 
vote  and  a  casting  vote.  In  some  Parliamentary  proce- 
dures he  has,  and  in  others  he  has  not.  As  a  rule,  it  is 
more  dignified  for  a  chairman  to  remain  neutral,  and  if  his 
casting  vote  is  needed,  to  give  it  in  that  way  that  will  bring 
the  lesser  change,  which  will  generally  be  against  the  reso- 
lution. 

If  two  persons  rise  together  to  address  the  meeting,  the 


26o  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS, 

chairman  should  select  the  one  he  noticed  first,  and  should 
not  allow  his  decision  to  be  questioned.  Decision  and 
impartiality  are  the  two  pillars  of  a  chairman's  strength. 
Whatever  his  private  opinions  and  feelings  may  be,  the 
rule  has  been  placed  m  his  hands,  and  he  deserves  double 
honour  if  he  rule  firmly  and  well.  There  is  a  time  to 
be  humble  and  submissive,  and  a  time  to  be  regal  and 
authoritative. 


II.     A  Parable.     By  Rev.  Samuel  Vincent. 

There  was  once  a  man,  no  matter  when  and  no  matter 
where,  who  was  neither  well  nor  ill,  but  out  of  sorts,  as  we 
say.  He  came  of  a  healthy  stock,  lived  in  bracing  air  and 
on  wholesome  food,  but  appetite,  vigour,  and  cheerfulness 
were  all  gone.  He  was  not  suffering  from  consumption, 
fever,  gout,  paralysis,  or  epilepsy  ;  there  was  no  organic  or 
acute  disease,  but  he  had  fallen  into  a  low,  melancholy, 
lifeless  condition,  and  in  body  and  mind  was  a  man  ''in 
doleful  dumps."  He  pitied  himself,  of  course  ;  felt  his 
pulse,  looked  at  his  tongue  in  the  glass,  and  complained  to 
his  neighbours,  who  gave  him  advice  enough  to  fill  a  book. 
But  none  of  them  seemed  to  understand  his  case. 

One  night  he  "dreamed  a  dream  which  was  not  all  a 
dream."  He  heard  all  the  principal  members  of  his  body 
talking  together  on  the  low  state  of  the  general  health. 
He  was  not  at  all  surprised  at  this  conference,  for  the  most 
wonderful  things  seem  natural  in  dreams.  They  were  all 
complaining  with  one  consent  that  there  was  "  no  life  "  ; 
and  each  shook  his  head,  so  to  speak,  as  if  to  imply,  "  If  all 
were  like  me,  what  life  would  there  be  !  "  Then  they  began 
to  boast,  as  people  do  who  are  conscious  of  deserving  blame; 
and  the  Feet  began  it,  the  lowest  members  of  all  first 
They  said  : — "What  a  weight  we  have  to  bear  up  under  all 
the  day  long !  and  what  with  walking  and  running  as  fast 
and  as  far  as  the  Body  wishes,  with  all  the  other  members 
pressing  down  upon  us  from  above,  and  the  rough  dusty 
roads  pressing  up  against  us  from  below,  we  are  a  constant 
wonder  to  ourselves." 

And  the  Hands  said: — "We  have  to  do  all  the  hard 
work  of  the  world  ;  and  then  the  care  of  the  Body,  too, 


A  PARABLE,  261 


comes  chiefly  upon  us,  for  the  face  can't  be  washed  nor  the 
mouth  suppHed  without  our  aid,  and  what  more  can  we 
do  ?  " 

And  the  Brain  said  : — "  I  am  out  of  sight,  and  I  keep 
silent,  but  what  a  General  is  to  his  army,  or  a  King  to  his 
kingdom,  that  am  I  to  the  Body.  I  sit  scheming  and 
planning  all  day  long,  and  often  far  into  the  night,  and  all 
for  the  general  good." 

"You  are  very  much  like  me,"  the  Stomach  said  to  the 
Brain,  "  unseen,  studying  the  good  of  all  ;  you  give  guid- 
ance, and  I  give  food  ;  yoa  are  the  General,  and  I  the 
Commissary,  and  as  the  Eye  and  Ear  bring  you  stores  of 
information,  so  Hand  and  Mouth  bring  me  my  stores  of 
food.  Yes,  you  and  I  play  a  large  part  in  making  the 
Body  what  it  is." 

And  the  Lungs  said  : — "  We  never  think  of  taking  rest 
by  day  or  night,  but  every  moment  and  every  movement 
we  use  to  draw  the  freshness  and  brightness  of  the  air  of 
heaven  into  the  blood." 

And  the  Eye  said  : — "  If  it  were  not  for  us  what  would 
the  Body  know  of  stars  or  sunny  fields  or  friendly  faces? 
We  are  like  watchmen  on  a  tower,  or  like  lamps  that  '  give 
light  to  all  that  are  in  the  liouse';  and  always  we  are 
looking  out  on  every  side  for  whatever  may  prove  an 
advantage  or  pleasure  for  the  other  members  of  the  Body." 

And  the  Ears  said  : — "  We  are  always  listening  day  and 
night,  and  when  the  Eyes  are  shut  in  sleep,  we  are  open. 


and  stand  like  sentinels  to  guard  the  slumbering  members 
that  need  rest,  and  rouse  them  at  the  first  sound  of 
danger." 

And  the  Tongue,  who  talked  more  than  all  the  rest  of 
the  members  put  together,  and  mistook  himself  for  an 
orator,  rattled  on  at  a  great  rate  of  the  service  he  did  in 
giving  expression  to  all  the  complaints  of  all  the  members, 
and,  indeed,  in  acting  as  their  spokesman  whenever  they 
wanted  to  communicate  their  wishes  to  the  outside  world, 
and  he  boasted  that  his  devotion  to  their  interests  was  so 
great  that  he  was  "  never  still." 

And  yet  all  these  boasting  members  agreed  as  one  in 
saying,  "  There  is  something  wrong  with  this  Body." 

Then  the  Heart  spoke  : — and  the  voice  was  like  rich 
music,  for  the  voice  of  the  Heart  is  the  voice  of  love  and 


262  PLATFORM  AIDS-MISCELLANEOUS. 

truth  ;  and  all  the  members  could  hear  this  central  voice, 
and  loved  to  hear  it,  too.  "  I  have  been  thinking,"  the 
Heart  said,  "  for  I  have  thoughts  like  the  Brain,  but 
humbler  thoughts  than  his  " — "  No,  no,"  the  Brain  said, 
"your  thoughts  are  clearer  than  mine,  and  have  more  of 
heaven  in  them.  I  often  have  to  come  to  you  to  help  me 
out  of  my  difficulties."  Then  the  Heart  thanked  the  Brain 
and  said,  "  I  know  that  God  is  love,  and  that  God  is  light, 
and  that  He  has  made  me  the  seat  of  love,  and  so  my 
thoughts  may  shine  with  heavenly  light,  but  if  they  do, 
they  come  from  Him  ;  they  are  not  mine,  and  I  should  be 
grieved  to  seem  to  boast  of  them  as  though  I  had  not 
received  them."  Already,  even  in  this  moment,  a  won- 
derful change  had  passed  over  the  spirit  of  the  various 
members  ;  the  disposition  to  boast  had  vanished  quite 
away,  and  they  seemed  half  ashamed—but  the  Heart 
went  on  : — "  I  was  thinking,  that  the  whole  Body  is 
nothing  else  but  the  union  of  us  members.  The  Body  is 
not  Jung  without  us.  If  the  Body  is  wrong,  we  must  be 
wrong.  Now,  simply  from  my  central  place,  I  am  in  a 
good  position  to  observe  where  the  blame  lies,  and  I  will 
tell  you  the  conclusion  that  I  have  come  to,  with  sorrow." 

Then  all  the  members  were  silent  ;  even  the  Lungs 
stopped  after  a  deep  sigh,  while  the  Heart  beat  stroke  after 
stroke  without  speaking.  At  length  he  said  : — "  I  don't 
think  I  have  been  beating  quite  heartily  enough." 

"  Oh  yes,  you  have,"  the  members  all  said  in  chorus  ; 
'*  Oh  yes,  you  have — the  fault  has  not  been  with  you." 

And  the  Heart  replied  : — "  It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  say 
so,  but  I  know  that  a  feeble  Heart  spreads  languor  and 
listlessness  through  all  the  frame ;  if  I  have  been  sluggish 
in  the  past,  forgive  me,  and  trust  me  that  in  the  future  I 
will  beat  my  very  best." 

Then  a  confessing  mood  fell  upon  all  the  members. 

The  Feet  said  : — "We  might  have  moved  more  briskly 
many  a  time,  and  when  the  Body  needed  exercise,  we 
were  reluctant,  but  now  that  we  see  that  the  Body  is 
nothing  but  the  living  union  of  the  various  members,  and 
how  much  depends  on  even  the  least  and  lowest  of  them, 
you  shall  walk  on  willing  Feet." 

And  the  Hands  said  : — "  Whatever  we  find  to  do  shall 
be  done  henceforth  with   all  our  might ;  you  shall  have  no 


A    PARABLE,  263 


grudging  work  from  us,  you  shall  never  complain  of  folded 
Hands,  or  of  'Hands  that  hang  down'  when  there  is 
anything  to  do  for  the  general  good." 

And  the  Brain  said  : — "  On  reflection,  I  can  see  that  I 
did  not  keep  myself  to  profitable  thoughts,  but  indulged  in 
day  dreams  like  an  idle  apprentice  ;  and  yet  I  compared 
myself  to  a  General  and  a  King !  How  could  the  Body 
profit  under  my  care  ?  I  was  too  proud  to  think  true, 
quiet  thoughts  of  daily  duties,  and  to  marshal  the  willing 
members  to  useful  work ;  but  I  see  at  last  that,  if  I  am 
above  all,  'tis  that  I  may  serve  all.  Forgive  me  for  the 
past." 

And  the  Stomach  said  : — *'  Hereafter  I'll  do  my  very 
best  to  tackle  any  tough  morsel  that  may  come,  and  not 
turn  up  queer  at  every  little  thing  that  hardly  suits  me, 
and  upset  the  whole  Body.  I  fear  that  the  'often 
infirmitioc'  of  the  Body  have  been  largely  due  to  my 
careless  work,  but  from  this  hour  I  will  endeavour  to  send 
timely  supplies  of  wholesome  nutriment  to  every  member, 
and  I  will  not  be  puffed  up  with  my  stewardship  any 
more." 

And  the  Lungs  said  : — "  We  have  been  too  much  given 
to  sighing,  and  that  is  depressing  ;  but  we'll  take  deeper 
draughts  of  the  pure  air,  and  send  brighter  blood  to  the 
Brain,  and  purer,  fuller  floods  of  life  to  the  languid 
members,  and  spend  no  more  breath  in  sighs." 

And  the  Eyes  said  : — "  We  see  clearly  now  that  we 
ought  to  look  longest  at  cheerful  sights,  and  so  bear 
cheerier  impressions  of  outward  things  to  the  Brain.  We 
never  saw  it  so  before,  but  the  melancholy  and  gloom  of 
the  mind  may  have  been  produced  or  prolonged  by  us,  but 
you  shall  never  find  us  from  this  time  gazing  at  sad  sights, 
and  only  glancing  at  the  gay  and  happy  ones  ;  we  have 
looked  down  to  the  earth  too  much,  and  up  to  the  heavens 
too  little ;  we  have  forgotten  too  long  a  pleasant  saying 
that  the  Ears  once  reported  to  me,  that  '  Daysprings  are 
from  on  high.' " 

And  the  Ears  said  : — "  We  have  often  listened  more 
willingly  to  slander  and  blame  than  to  commendation  and 
praise  ;  to  what  was  base  and  bad  in  men,  rather  than  to 
what  was  noble  and  good  ;  and  this  we  see  would  make  the 
mind  morbid  and  sour,  and  that  the  Body,  as  vinegar  will 


264  PLATFORM  AIDS-MISCELLANEOUS. 

sour  the  cask.  Hereafter  we  will  give  the  preference  to 
things  pure  and  good." 

And  the  Tongue  confessed  : — "  I  have  forgotten  that 
there  is  '  a  time  to  be  silent/  and  I  have  often  spoken  so 
unadvisedly  as  to  'set  on  fire  the  whole  course  of  nature/ 
and  more  frequently  still  I  have  grumbled  at  small 
grievances  when  I  ought  to  have  been  singing  of  great 
mercies.  But  I  pray  that  hereafter  I  may  never  cease  to 
interpret  this  ancient  saying  to  all  the  members,  '  A  whole- 
some Tongue  is  a  tree  of  life.' " 

So  the  members  resolved  that  night,  without  an  hour's 
delay,  to  co-operate  unanimously  for  the  general  welfare, 
and  this  they  agreed  could  only  be  done  by  each  member 
doing  quiecly,  thoroughly,  cheerfully,  and  constantly  the 
work  that  God  had  fitted  him  for. 

Just  before  the  conference  of  the  members  of  the  Body 
broke  up,  the  Brain  said  that  one  of  his  faculties," J/^;//^;j, 
had  suggested  to  him  a  fragment  of  quotation  from  an  old 
Book  held  in  the  highest  reverence  amongst  men  ;  and  that 
if  the  Tongue  would  aid  Memory,  this  quotation  might 
fitly  conclude  their  conversation ;  and  so  these  words 
were  heard  : — "  The  Body  is  not  one  member,  but  many. — 
And  the  Eye  cannot  say  unto  the  Hand,  '  I  have  no  need 
of  thee ' ;  nor  again  the  Head  to  the  Feet,  *  I  have  no  need 
of  you.'  Nay,  much  more  those  members  of  the  Body 
which  seem  to  be  more  feeble,  are  necessary. — That  there 
should  be  no  schism  in  the  Body  ;  but  that  the  members 
should  have  the  same  care  one  for  another.  And  whether 
one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it  ;  or 
one  member  be  honoured,  all  the  members  rejoice  with 
it." 

Instead  of  applause,  there  was  silence,  for  each  member 
was  thinking  of  the  peculiar  honour  and  usefulness  of  his 
own  work,  and  yet  how  utterly  useless  it  would  be  alone, 
without  the  work  of  many  co-operating  brethren.  And 
each  was  heartily  content  to  be  a  useful  part  of  an  har- 
monious whole. 

In  that  silence,  the  man  himself  fell  into  a  deep,  dream- 
less sleep. 

When  he  awoke  in  the  morning,  he  had  forgotten  what 
he  had  heard  upon  his  bed  at  night,  but  he  was  conscious 
of  unusual  vivacity  and  cheerfulness  ;  his  brain  was  active, 


IVE  KNEW  THAT  BEFORE.  265 

and  his  walk  was  brisk.  There  was  no  melancholy,  nor 
dyspepsia,  nor  sluggishness — the  man  was  all  alive. 

To  friends  who  inquired  for  his  health,  he  replied  that 
he  felt  altogether  a  brand-new  man  ;  but  could  not  in  any 
way  account  for  the  change.  Nor  did  he  ever  unriddle  the 
happy  mystery,  till  one  day  the  recollection  of  his  dream 
gave  him  the  missing  clue. 

But  the  several  members  of  the  Body,  as  they  compared 
notes  that  night  on  the  doings  of  the  day,  said,  with  the 
heartiest  satisfaction  they  had  experienced  for  many  a 
long  year,  "  We  can  account  for  the  change,  if  he  cannot  ; 
we  are  now  working  happily,  and  harmoniously,  and 
helpfully  together,  each  doing  well  his  part."  And  all 
agreed  that  from  this  simple  cause,  a  happy  and  surprising 
change  had  come  to  pass,  both  for  the  whole  Body  and  for 
each  several  member. 

Let  each  member  of  our  Churches  consider  this  matter 
well.  And  may  tve  ^2// "grow  up  into  Him  in  all  things 
which  is  the  Head,  even  Christ :  from  whom  the  whole 
Body  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by  that  which 
every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working  in 
the  measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the  Body 
unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love." 


III.      We    Knew   that    Before.       By  the  Rev.  James 
CoMPER  Gray. 

Once  upon  a  time, — so  we  read  in  most  veritable  bird- 
history, — the  feathered  tribes  sent  a  deputation  to  their 
exalted  neighbour,  the  magpie,  humbly  requesting  his 
highness  to  give  them  a  few  lessons  in  the  art  and  science 
of  building.  Having  just  dined  most  luxuriously,  and 
being,  therefore,  in  an  excellent  humour  ;  feeling,  moreover, 
a  little  proud  of  the  attention  shown  him, — for  to  whose 
stature  does  not  a  humble  deputation  add  at  least  a  cubit  ^ 
—  Sir  Pie  replied,  that  he  would  be  only  too  glad  to  place 
his  gifts,  in  the  architectural  line,  at  the  service  of  his 
friends,  whose  homeless  condition  he  had  often  deplored. 
The  annals  of  the  woodlands  state  that  the  hour  at  length 
arrived  when  representatives  from  all  the  tribes  assembled 
at  the  tiysting  tree  to  take  their  first  lesson.     "  First,"  said 


266  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

the  noble  teacher,  ''  you  must  take  two  sticks — thus  ;  and 

lay  one  across  the  other — so  :  and  then ,"  but  before 

he  could  proceed,  a  blackbird  on  a  neighbouring  bough 
twittered  out — "  We  knew  that  before."  With  a  look  that 
ought  to  have  annihilated  his  sable  brother,  Sir  Pie  con- 
tinued,— "  And  then  you  must  be  prepared  with  fibres  and 
moss  wherewith  to  bind  the  sticks  together  and  to  the 
bough  on  which  you  have  placed  them, — in  this  way." 
Hereupon  there  was  a  vast  chirruping  all  round.  The 
birds  wagged  their  tails,  and  nodded  their  heads  know- 
ingly to  each  other,  and  said,  "  We  knew  that  before."  As 
soon  as  silence  was  restored,  the  august  teacher  continued, 
but  only  to  be  assured  at  every  step  that  all  he  showed 
them  was  known  before.  Rendered  at  last  indignant  by 
these  repeated  interruptions,  the  honourable  baronet 
angrily  exclaimed — "Why,  then,  if  you  knew  it  all  before, 
did  you  send  for  me  1 "  Hereupon  he  took  his  departure 
in  a  great  dudgeon,  advising  them,  as  he  went,  to  finish 
the  house  which  he  had  only  half  built.  This  they  were 
unable  to  do,  "  and  that,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  is  the 
reason  why,  to  this  day.  Sir  Pie  lives  in  a  ceiled  house, 
while  all  his  neighbours'  dwellings  are  open  to  the  sky. 
They  were  so  proud  of  what  they  thought  they  knew,  that 
they  had  not  patience  to  wait  for  the  explanation  of  things 
they  did  not  quite  understand." 

Now,  all  good  stories  of  the  old-fashioned  order  finish 
with  a  moral.  And  if,  in  this  case,  the  moral  is  longer 
than  the  story,  the  fault  is  his  who  recorded  the  history. 
What  right  had  he  to  write  a  parable  so  pregnant  with  in- 
struction and  practical  uses  }  He  should  have  considered 
his  readers,  and  made  it  less  suggestive.  Our  moral  is 
this.  We  are  building  for  eternity,  and  are  anxious  to 
build  well.  We  know  a  little  of  our  craft  as  builders,  but 
we  do  not  know  all.  We  have,  so  we  think,  begun  in  the 
right  way,  and  on  the  right  foundation,  and  are  anxious 
to  continue  right,  and  bring  the  topstone  on  with  shouting. 
To  make  sure  work,  as  we  proceed  during  this  new  year, 
we  propose  to  call  to  our  aid  the  wisdom  and  experience 
of  master  builders.  We  want  their  advice  as  to  the  site 
we  should  choose,  the  materials  we  should  select,  and  the 
best  method  of  combining  them.  We  want  our  edifice  to 
be,  when  finished,  one  harmonious  whole,  such  as  we  can 


JVE  KNEW  THAT  BEFORE.  267 

contemplate  with  satisfaction.  Entering  on  this  new  year, 
we  will  not,  therefore,  despise  the  things  we  knew  before  ; 
but  use  them  as  so  much  vantage  ground  for  the  future. 
That  is  how  the  world  has  advanced  in  knowledge  and 
civilization.  Each  to-day  has  used  the  knowledge  of  yester- 
day as  the  standing-points  for  to-morrow's  achievements. 
If  the  world  were  to  despise  things  known  before  it  would 
each  day  begin  de  novo,  and  make  no  progress.  Christian 
men,  and  Sunday-school  teachers,  too,  may  apply  the 
lesson.  Calling  to  our  aid  these  master  builders,  as  we 
enter  this  new  year,  they  may  see  the  wisdom  of  reminding 
us  of  well-known  facts  and  acknowledged  principles.  It  is 
not  for  us  to  cry  out,  "We  knew  all  that  before,"  but 
rather  to  note  the  process,  while  observing  their  instruc- 
tions, by  which  things  already  known  are  to  help  us  for- 
ward to  the  acquisition  of  unknown  information,  and  the 
performance  of  hitherto  unattempted  works.  The  mathe- 
matical student,  while  pushing  his  investigations  into  the 
mysteries  of  numbers,  constantly  refreshes  his  memory  of 
the  elementary  rules.  The  more  frequently  he  does  this,  the 
more  unerring  is  their  application,  and  the  more  faultless 
his  reasoning.  The  same  rule  applies  to  religious  study 
and  teaching.  To  advance  ourselves,  and  to  take  others 
with  us,  first  principles  must  be  ever  remembered,  fre- 
quently applied,  and  often  enforced,  and  illustrated  by 
well-known  facts.  Recapitulation  is  the  secret  of  success- 
ful study.  Now  we  are  very  anxious  that  to  all  Sunday- 
school  friends  this  year  should  be  an  eminently  successful 
one.  Therefore,  we  say,  take  all  the  good  of  the  past  with 
you  ;  use  it,  and  keep  on  adding  to  the  store  and  in 
harmony  with  it,  that  the  finished  structure  may  be  homo- 
geneous. Some  time  ago  we  saw  a  mansion  of  quite  palatial 
dimensions,  but  of  most  grotesque  appearance.  In  some 
remote  age  it  had  been  commenced  by  some  one  whose 
means  were  limited,  or  who  did  not  live  to  complete  it. 
The  next  heir,  rejecting  the  previous  design — as  who 
should  say,  "  I  knew  all  that  before  " — commenced  at  one 
end  of  the  original  edifice  with  a  new  and  more  elaborate 
idea  of  his  own.  He  was  followed  by  another,  and  yet 
another,  each  regardless  of  the  past,  each  ambitious  for  the 
future.  We  presume  the  mansion  may  now  be  regarded 
as  finished.    But  what  a  strange  conglomeration  of  material 


268  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

and  style  :  brick,  stone,  marble,  Gothic,  Tudor,  Corinthian  ; 
certainly  composite  in  every  respect !  The  whole  stands  a 
stupendous  monument  to  the  folly  of  successive  builders, 
who  slighted  "  things  known  before." 

IV.     Good  Listening. 

Much  is  said  now-a-days  about  the  art  of  preaching,  and 
very  little  of  the  art  of  listening.  It  is  often  assumed  that 
good  preaching  will  command  good  listening ;  but  if  good 
preaching  is  that  which  converts  sinners  and  builds  up 
Christians,  there  must  be  something  more  than  mere  pas- 
sivity on  the  part  of  the  hearer.  Moral  good  cannot  be 
poured  into  a  man  like  water  into  a  barrel. 

Good  listening  requires  attention  ;  and  to  attend  to  any- 
thing means  to  hold  one's  self  to  it,  and  to  abstain  from 
doing  other  things.  Don't  count  the  rafters,  nor  the 
arches,  nor  the  pillars  in  the  chapel.  If  you  remember 
the  number  of  rafters,  you  will  be  pretty  sure  to  forget  tlie 
sermon.  Never  mind  the  embellishments  on  the  walls  or 
in  the  windows.  The  inscriptions  can  be  read  at  any  time, 
the  sermon  can  only  be  heard  now.  Buy  a  hymn-book 
and  read  it  at  home ;  don't  open  it  in  chapel  except  when 
the  hymn  is  given  out,  and  then  be  sure  and  keep  the 
place.  It  is  amazing  how  many  hymns  some  people  read 
during  sermon-time.  A  thorough  inspection  of  your 
neighbours'  bonnet,  cloak,  dress,  overcoat,  and  the  parting 
of  their  back-hair  must  be  deferred  until  another  time.  In 
short,  don't  allow  your  eyes  or  your  thoughts  to  be 
"  wandering,  like  the  fool's,  to  the  ends  of  the  earth." 
Remember  you  are  in  God's  house,  where  inattention  is 
irreverence,  and  irreverence  is  sin. 

Besides  these  things  which  are  to  be  left  undone,  there 
are  certain  things  which  ought  to  be  done.  Bear  in  mind 
that  you  are  to  be  benefited  by  what  you  hear,  and  under- 
stand, and  remember.  You  are  to  be  benefited,  not  the 
preacher,  nor  your  neighbour  principally,  but  yourself. 

The  effect  of  good  listening  upon  the  preacher  is  simply 
incalculable — in  fact,  it  is  one  of  the  prime  factors  of  good 
preaching.  Some  one  has  said  that  three  things  are  neces- 
sary for  a  great  speech — a  great  theme,  a  great  occasion, 
and  a  great  man.     A  preacher  always  has  a  great  theme, 


WE  KNEW  THAT  BEFORE,  269 

but  a  great  occasion  can  only  grow  out  of  the  mental  and 
moral  attitude  of  his  audience.  No  man  can  do  his  best, 
preaching  in  an  empty  house  ;  and  the  effect  of  indifferent 
listeners  is  often  even  more  depressing  than  empty  benches. 
No  one  who  is  accustomed  to  teach  a  Sunday-school  class 
has  failed  to  note  the  painful  and  almost  paralysing  in- 
fluence of  listless  and  inattentiv^e  scholars.  We  demand 
that  the  preacher  shall  declare  the  truth  with  earnestness, 
with  tenderness,  with  affection  ;  but  how  can  a  man  be 
earnest,  or  tender,  or  affectionate,  towards  people,  many  of 
whom  are  as  insensible  to  what  he  is  saying  as  blocks  of 
wood  ?  We  have  known  speakers  who  have  declared  that 
they  were  obliged  to  select  men,  here  and  there  in  the 
audience,  who  gave  attention,  and  preach  to  them,  in 
order  to  feel  that  they  were  preaching  to  living  beings, 
and  thus  avoid  the  depressing  influence  of  an  inattentive 
audience. 

Nor  is  it  in  the  pulpit  alone  that  good  listening  helps  to 
make  good  preaching.  Say  what  we  will  about  inward 
motives  which  should  prompt  the  minister  to  make  care- 
ful preparation,  if  he  feels  that  he  is  preparing  to  say  what 
few  care  to  hear,  he  will  lack  that  vital  inspiration  which 
the  knowledge  of  another's  want  can  alone  supply.  Open 
opposition  arouses,  indifference  shrivels  his  powers.  Even 
God  does  not  teach  His  most  precious  truths,  nor  impart 
His  choicest  blessings,  save  to  those  who  seek  them  ;  and 
the  man  who  continually  preaches  to  inattentive  hearers 
either  becomes  hardened  to  it,  and  does  his  duty  per- 
functorily, or  he  wears  himself  out  with  anxiety  and  self- 
accusation. 


V.     Our  Unseen  Allies.     By  Rev.  R.  H.  Howard. 

A  GOOD  story  is  told  of  a  certain  English  officer  who, 
during  Wellington's  campaign  in  Spain,  with  a  mere  frag- 
ment of  his  original,  but  now  sadly  decimated  command, 
was  ordered  at  a  given  signal,  during  the  progress  of  an 
important  and  decisive  engagement,  to  attack  a  certain 
French  battery  that  with  terrific  effect  was  pouring  shot 
and  shell  into  the  ranks  of  the  English.  At  the  appointed 
moment,  with  the  most  desperate  valour,  the  English  oflicer 


270  PLATFORM  AIDS-MISCELLANEOUS. 

at  the  head  of  his  slender  column  flung  himself  on  the 
seemingly  impregnable  position  of  the  enemy.  He  antici- 
pated nothing  but  to  be  cut  utterly  to  pieces.  He  felt 
confident  that  he  was  leading  a  forlorn  hope. 

"  His  but  to  do  and  die." 

What,  therefore,  was  his  surprise,  not  to  say  amazement,  as 
he  neared  the  battery,  but  just  now  flaming  and  thundering 
in  a  manner  most  formidable  and  appalling,  to  find  it  silent 
and  deserted.  How  was  this  ?  Though  he  had  not  been 
advertised  of  the  fact,  yet  the  prudent,  far-seeing  com- 
mander had  taken  care  to  order  several  other  companies 
from  as  many  difl'erent  points  to  charge  the  same  position 
at  the  same  moment  with  the  one  afore- mentioned.  The 
result  was,  the  stronghold  was  carried  almost  before  the 
valiant  soldier,  who  had  showed  himself  so  ready  to  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  country,  had  had  an  opportnuity  to 
strike  a  blow  ;  and  all  because  those  who  were  for  him 
were  so  much  more  numerous,  as  well  as  invincible,  than 
he  had  himself  had  any  conception  of.  His  unseen  allies 
greatly  outnumbered  the  members  of  his  own  command, 
and  actually  fought  his  battle  for  him. 

Thus  let  the  believer  always  bear  in  mind  that,  however 
difficult  or  perilous  the  task  or  duty  assigned  him,  and 
however  seemingly  inadequate  his  own  means  or  resources 
for  its  accomplishment,  he  has  yet  no  occasion  on  that 
account  for  despondency  or  despair.  There  are  always 
more,  in  every  crisis  whatever,  to  sympathize  with  and  to 
help  him  than  he  dreams  of  His  unseen  allies,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  gallant  captain  above  referred  to,  vastly  out- 
number his  own  visible  forces.  The  very  stars  in  their 
courses  fight  for  him,  and  hence  of  course,  against  his 
enemies.  All  the  activities  of  nature  and  providence  con- 
spire to  give  effect  to  his  deeds.  The  mightiest  angels  in 
heaven,  we  are  assured,  are  enlisted  under  his  banner — 
encamp  nightly  round  about,  and  deliver  him.  We  believe 
that  the  old  Revolutionary  patriot  uttered  no  less  truth 
than  sentiment  when  in  a  moment  of  inspiration  he  cried  : 
"  Besides,  sir,  we  shall  not  be  left  to  fight  our  battles  alone. 
There  is  a  just  God  in  heaven  who,  if  we  do  our  duty,  will 
fight  our  battles  for  us." 


CONSISTENCY.  271 


VI.    Consistency. 

Consistency  is  a  jewel.  There  is  a  good  story  told 
which  has  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  until  it  has  become 
public  property,  of  a  clerical  meeting  not  a  hundred  miles 
from  New  York.  A  certain  temperance  movement  was 
under  discussion,  and  it  was  Brother  A. 's  turn,  and  he  said: 
"  These  brethren  mean  well  in  their  imposing  of  total 
abstinence  upon  us  under  penalty  of  not  being  regarded  as 
Christians  ;  but  the  fact  is  I  do  not  believe  in  their  cause 
nor  their  principles.  I  very  much  doubt,  in  fact,  if  the 
practice  of  total  abstinence  is  a  duty  for  us.  That  is  all  I 
have  to  say."  Then  it  was  Dr.  B.'s  turn,  who  began, 
solemnly  and  slowly  :  "  I  am  profoundly  grieved  to  hear 
the  brother  express  himself  so.  I  believe  the  practice  of 
total  abstinence  would  be  of  advantage  for  the  world,  for 
the  Church,  and  I  may  say  for  the  brother  himself  I  have 
made  total  abstinence  my  practice  for  forty  years,  and —  " 
Here  Dr.  C.  broke  in  :  "Why,  Dr.  B.,  you  don't  mean  to 
say  that  you  do  not  drink  a  glass  of  wine  at  a  wedding?  I 
have  seen  you  do  it  myself"  "  Well — hem  !  hem  ! — I  have 
sometimes  made  an  exception  of  a  wedding."  "  But,  Dr. 
B.,  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  do  not  now  and  then 
take  a  sip  of  cognac  ?  You  certainly  do."  *'  Ah  !  well — 
hem  !  hem  ! — perhaps  I  do  occasionally — hem  !  hem  ! — 
when  I  think — hem  !  hem  ! — it  would  do  me  good.  But, 
as  I  was  saying,  for  forty  years  total  abstinence  has  been 
m.y  practice,  generally  I "  It  was  another  Dr.  C,  who 
knew  how  to  use  the  English  language  vigorously  and  who 
was  once  reading  a  very  strenuous  paper  on  total  abstinence 
before  the  same  clerical  club— so  the  story  goes — when  the 
entertainer  went  out  to  tell  his  wife  how  many  she  was  to 
provide  for  at  supper.  "  What  are  they  doing  t  "  she  asked, 
and  was  told  the  subject  of  the  essay.  "  What  shall  I  do.''  " 
she  cried,  "  Here  I  have  brandied  peaches,  and  it  is  too 
late  to  change."  "  Make  no  change,"  said  her  husband. 
"  It  will  be  all  right."  The  essa3'ist  had  the  post  of  honour 
at  the  right  of  the  lady  of  the  house,  and  she  presented 
him  with  a  dish  of  the  peaches.  After  a  while  she  said  to 
him  :  "  Dr.  C,  won't  you  allow  me  to  give  you  some  more 
of  these  peaches  ?  "  "  Thank  you,"  he  replied.  *'  They 
are  very  excellent."     A  little  later  she  said  :  "  Dr.  C,  may  I 


272  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

not  give  you  another  peach  ?"  "  No,  I  thank  you,"  said  he, 
apologetically,  "  but  I  will  take  a  little  more  of  the  gravy '^ 
How  different  the  story  of  President  Fairchild,  of  Oberlin, 
who  was  about  to  visit  Europe,  and  a  guest  at  the  table 
told  him  that  there  he  would  certainly  have  to  drink  wine. 
"  No,"  cried  out  Dr.  Fairchild's  little  son,  "  my  father  can 
be  trusted  when  he  is  away  from  home."  And  he  did  not 
taste  wine  on  the  trip.  He  would  not  disappoint  the  con- 
fidence of  his  boy. 


VII.    The  ReHgious  Mosquito.     By  the  Rev.  C.  A. 

Stark. 

Who  has  not  been  tormented  at  some  time  bj^  that  pesti- 
lent, persistent  fellow  whom,  for  want  of  a  better  name, 
we  will  call  the  Religious  Mosquito }  The  Religious 
Mosquito  is  very  small,  but  he  has  a  wonderful  sting.  He 
is  hard  to  see,  but  you  can  always  hear  him.  Here  he 
comes.  What  a  contemptible,  vicious  song  he  sings — 
hum-m-m,  buz-z-z.  You  put  out  your  hand  to  brush  him 
away  ;  he  has  gone ;  no,  he  has  only  shifted  to  the  other 
side.  You  make  another  pass  at  him  ;  but  he  has  eluded 
you,  and  there  he  is  back  again.  You  catch  yourself  a 
ringing  ship  on  the  cheek,  but  you  did  not  catch  him-. 
There  is  silence  a  moment ;  and  here  he  is  again,  singing 
his  dreary  song  louder  than  ever.  You  will  not  get  rid  of 
him  till  he  has  had  his  fill  of  your  blood,  or  you  have  fled. 

The  Religious  Mosquito  is  a  man  who  has  got  lodged  in 
his  head  a  small  idea  (generally  erroneous)  on  some  point 
of  doctrine,  experience,  or  practice  which  he  hums  over 
and  over,  and  makes  the  accompaniment  to  a  vicious  attack 
on  his  fellow  Christians.  There  are  many  beasts  of  prey  en- 
countered on  the  road  to  heaven,  but  nothing  so  bad  as  the 
Religious  Mosquito.  The  lion,  the  loud-defiant  infidel  ; 
the  wild  boar  out  of  the  woods,  fierce,  headlong  passion  ; 
the  tiger  of  revenge  ;  the  stealthy,  gliding  serpent  of  secret 
sin  ;  all  these  may  be  met  and  vanquished  ;  but  who  ever 
came  off  more  than  second  best  from  an  encounter  with 
this  contemptible,  buzzing  unwearied  fellow }  He  has  an 
army  of  texts,  a  whole  artillery  train  of  wonderful,  plaus- 
ible comments,  arguments,  and  explanations  of  the  simplest 


THE   RELIGIOUS  MOSQUITO.  ill 

passages  of  Scripture,  that  he  dexterously  draws  up  and 
manoeuvres  till  we  would  not  be  surprised  to  see  him  prove, 
by  skilful  exegesis  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the  moon  is  made 
out  of  green  cheese. 

Is  there  any  profit  in  the  Religious  Mosquito  ?  Can  we 
discover  any  possible  design  in  his  creation  or  permission  ? 
Dr.  Bushnell,  an  American  writer,  saj^s  that  gnats,  wasps, 
sandflies;  and  all  the  small  stinging  tribes,  were  designed 
to  read  us  a  sharp  lesson  on  the  pestilent,  irritating  char- 
acter of  sin.  Surely  here,  if  anywhere,  do  we  find  the  end 
served  by  the  Religious  Mosquito.  He  teaches  us  by  a 
most  painful  practical  lesson  what  a  plague  a  diseased  petty 
worrying  of  some  small  fragment  of  truth  may  become. 
Each  of  these  pestilent  fellows  has  got  hold  of  a  piece  of 
truth,  sometimes  an  infinitesimally  small  piece,  yet  a  bit  of 
truth.  With  this  he  makes  a  sting  and  a  song,  and  goes 
after  his  fellow-Christians,  probing  their  patience,  poisoning 
their  hopes,  spoiling  their  peace.  The  Religious  Mosquito 
teaches  us  to  prize  the  breath  and  light  of  the  whole 
truth. 

He  is  also  a  means  of  grace.  Possibly  Paul's  "  thorn  in 
the  flesh,"  his  '*  messenger  of  Satan  sent  to  buffet  him,"  was 
a  Religious  Mosquito.  Certainly  he  met  the  tribe  ;  for 
does  he  not  ask  the  prayer  of  the  Church  that  he  might  be 
delivered  from  "  unreasonable,"  or,  as  the  margin  has  it, 
"  absurd  men  "  ;  and  what  can  be  more  absurd  than  a  full- 
fledged  Religious  Mosquito?  Still  he  may  be  a  means  of 
grace.  It  is  a  trial  of  patience  and  faith  to  have  the 
Religious  Mosquito  come  with  his  venomous  sting,  turning 
the  sweet  savour  of  the  noblest  passages  of  God's  Word 
into  the  vapidness  or  bitterness  of  some  small  theological 
crotchet.  When  the  harpies  in  Virgil's  description  came 
down  on  the  feast  of  the  Trojan  refugees,  they  defiled  more 
than  they  ate  ;  and  the  Religious  Mosquito  has  spoiled 
many  a  good  morsel  of  the  bread  of  life.  There  are  some 
texts  that  insensibly  bring  to  mind  these  imitators,  so  that 
one  can  hardly  taste  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  them  any 
more. 

The  Religious  Mosquito  prepares  us  for  heaven.  There 
will  be  no  more  buzzing,  slinging,  pertinacious  propagator 
of  small  doctrine  there.  There  will  be  rest  from  theological 
criticism  and  pious  vagaries.     *'  The  inhabitant  shall  not 

T 


274  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

say,  I  am  sick  "  ;  how  often  the  Religious  Mosquito  makes 
us  say  that  here !  He  also  makes  us  sick  at  times  of  the 
name  of  religion.  Among  the  many  scourges  which  drive 
us  away  from  our  resting-places  here,  this  whip  of  very 
small  cords,  the  Religious  Mosquito  tribe,  may  prove  at 
last  not  the  least  efficient. 

Let  us  bless  God  for  his  permission  even  of  the  Religious 
Mosquito.  Does  he  not  often  make  us  take  up  the  longing 
cry  of  the  Psalmist,  who  must  have  met  this  pestilent  tribe 
in  his  day — "  Oh  !  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  ;  for  then 
would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest." 

VIII.  Zeal. 

Richard  Nolly  was  a  famous  prairie  preacher,  and  often 
came  upon  bands  of  white  heathen  in  his  work.  On  one 
occasion  he  discovered  the  track  of  an  emigrant  family,  and 
followed  it.  "  What !  "  said  the  man  who  was  leading  it 
into  the  wilderness,  "■  a  Methodist  preacher !  I  quit  Vir- 
ginia to  be  out  of  the  way  of  them,  but  in  my  settlement 
in  Georgia,  I  thought  to  be  beyond  their  reach.  There 
they  were,  and  they  got  my  wife  and  daughter  into  their 
church.  Then  I  come  here  to  Chocktaw,  find  a  good  piece 
of  land,  feel  sure  that  I  shall  have  some  peace  from  the 
preachers,  and  here  is  one  before  I've  unloaded  my  wag- 
gon ! "  "My  friend,"  said  Nolly,  "if  you  go  to  heaven, 
you'll  find  Methodist  preachers  there ;  and  if  you  go  to 
hell,  I'm  afraid  you'll  find  some  there ;  and  you  see  how  it 
is  in  the  world.  I'd  advise  you  to  come  to  terms  with  God, 
and  then  you'll  be  at  peace  with  us." 

IX.  Youth. 

A  MINISTER  may  be  young,  but  "let  no  man  despise  thy 
youth."  The  youth  of  William  Jay  was  not  despised  ;  nor 
was  the  youth  of  John  Angel  1  James.  When  a  testy  old 
gentleman  said  to  William  Jay,  when  he  first  began  to 
preach,  he  *'had  no  notion  of  beardless  boys  becoming 
preachers,"  he  said,  "  Pray  sir,  does  not  Paul  say  to 
Timothy,  '  Let  no  man  despise  thy  youth.'  You  remind 
me,  sir,  of  what  I  have  read  of  a  French  monarch,  who  had 
received  a  young  ambassador,  and  complaining  said,  *  your 


TEXTUAL  PREACHING.  275 

master  should  not  have  sent  a  beardless  stripling.'  "  "  Sir," 
said  the  youthful  ambassador,  "  had  my  master  supposed 
you  wanted  a  beard  he  would  have  sent  you  a  goat." 


X.     Pioneer  Preachers. 

Very  wonderful  is  the  story  of  the  progress  of  the  gospel 
in  the  varied  regions  of  the  United  States,  From  some  of 
the  outlying  parts  they  wrote  thus  for  a  preacher  :  "  Be 
sure  and  send  us  a  good  swimmer."  There  was  consider- 
able wonder  as  to  what  this  could  mean,  till  it  turned  out 
that  the  district  was  full  of  bridgeless  streams,  and  the 
last  minister  had  been  drowned  because  he  could  not  swim. 
George  Roberts  was  one  of  these  intrepid  and  heroic 
preachers.  "  George,"  said  Bishop  Ashbury  to  him  on  his 
appointment  to  a  circuit,  "  Where  are  your  clothes  }  '■* 
"  Bishop,  they  are  on  my  back.  On  receiving  my  appoint- 
ment at  your  hand,  sir,  I  am  not  compelled  to  return  to 
my  circuit  for  my  clothes,  but  I  am  ready  at  a  moment's 
warning  to  go  whithersoever  you  direct." 


XI.     Doctors  of  Divinity. 

Jacob  Bruder  was  a  Methodist  preacher  of  the  American 
prairie,  and  was  a  witty,  eloquent,  Lancaster  man.  On 
being  asked  *'  How  is  it  you  have  no  Doctors  of  Divinity," 
he  replied,  "  Our  divinity  is  not  sick,  and  does  not  need 
doctoring." 

XII.     Textual   Preaching. 

Mr.  Brisbane,  minister  of  Dunlop  Church,  was  a  remark- 
able character,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  this  century. 
Many  stories  are  told  of  his  peculiarities.  He  had  a  great 
dislike  of  all  preaching  that  was  not  textual.  On  one 
occasion  after  hearing  a  weak  sermon  from  a  young 
preacher,  and  being  asked  how  he  liked  it,  he  exclaimed 
with  great  point,  "The  man  might  have  said  to  the  text  at 
the  beginning  what  he  said  to  the  folk  at  the  end,  "  We'll 
maybe  meet  again  and  maybe  no."  On  another  occasion 
he  heard  a  sermon  by  a  young  minister  on  the  text,  "The 
angel  did  wondrously,  and  Pvlanoah,  and  his  wife  looked 


276  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

on."  Some  one  said,  "  What  did  you  think  of  the  sermon  ? " 
Mr.  Brisbane  said,  "  The  sermon  was  not  unlike  the  text, 
the  lad  did  wondrously,  and  the  text  lookit  on." 

XIII.     Profession  of  Religion. 

The  pioneer  preachers  of  America  are  a  remarkable  race, 
men  of  stamina  and  men  of  humour,  urgent  men  whose 
souls  are  on  fire  with  their  message,  speaking  right  out 
what  they  have  to  say.  They  have  their  faults.  They 
are  inferior  in  the  eloquencies,  and  refinements,  and 
beauties  of  civilized  society,  but  withal  are  men  mostly  of 
great  hearts.  James  Craven  was  one  of  these  preachers, 
and  a  man  who  had  an  intense  hatred  of  slavery  and  of 
alcohol.  One  day  when  preaching  in  Virginia  he  spoke 
thus,  "  There  are  many  professors  of  religion  here  to-day  ; 
you  are  sleek,  fat,  good-looking,  yet  something  is  the 
matter.  You  have  seen  wheat,  which  was  plump,  round, 
and  good-looking  to  the  eye,  but  when  you  weighed  it  you 
found  it  only  came  to  forty-five  pounds  to  the  bushel, 
instead  of  sixty-three.  Take  a  kernel  of  that  wheat  between 
your  thumb  and  finger,  hold  it  up,  squeeze  it,  and  pop  goes 
the  weevil.  Now  for  good-looking  professors  of  religion, 
you  are  plump,  round,  but  you  only  weigh  some  forty-five 
pounds  to  the  bushel.  What  is  the  matter  t  When  you 
are  taken  between  the  thumb  of  the  Law  and  the  finger 
of  the  Gospel,  held  up  to  the  light  and  squeezed,  out  pops 
the  whiskey  bottle." 

XIV.     Peter  Cartwright. 

Peter  Cartwright  was  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of 
America,  and  a  remarkable  character.  One  day  on  ap- 
proaching a  ferry,  he  heard  the  ferryman  swearing  terribly 
at  the  sermons  of  Peter  Cartwright,  and  threatening  that 
if  he  ever  had  to  ferry  the  preacher  across,  and  knew  him, 
he  would  drown  him  in  the  river.  Peter,  unrecognised, 
said  to  the  ferryman.  "  I  want  you  to  put  me  across." 
'  Wait  till  I'm  ready,"  said  he,  and  pursued  his  conversation 
and  strictures  on  Peter  Cartwright.  Having  finished,  he 
took  the  preacher  on  board,  and  on  reaching  the  middle 
of  the  stream,  Peter  told  him  to  let  go  his  pole.     "  What 


DR.   MOFFAT.  277 


for  ? "  asked  the  ferryman.  "  Well,  you've  just  been  ill- 
using  m}^  name,  and  now  you  have  a  chance  of  doing  what 
you  threatened."  "  Are  you  Peter  Cartwright  t  "  "  Yes." 
Instantly  the  ferryman  closed  on  the  preacher,  but  he  did 
not  know  his  strength,  and  he  quickly  had  the  worst  of  it. 
Plunging  him  into  the  river,  Peter  asked,  "  Did  you  ever 
pray  .-*  "  "  No."  "  Then  it's  time  you  did."  "  I  never  will," 
said  the  dripping  wretch.  Splash,  Splash,  and  down  goes 
the  ferryman  again.  "  Will  you  pray  now  }  "  asked  Peter. 
The  gasping  man  cried  "  PU  do  anything  you  bid  me." 
Then  follow  me — "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven." 
Having  repeated  the  prayer,  the  ferryman  cried,  "  Now 
let  me  go  !  "  "  Not  yet,  you  must  promise  me  three  things. 
I.  That  you  will  repeat  that  prayer  morning  and  evening, 
as  long  as  you  live.  2.  That  you  will  hear  every  pioneer 
preacher  that  comes  within  five  miles  of  this.  3.  That  you 
will  put  every  preacher  over  free  of  expense.  Do  you 
promise  }  "  "  I  promise,"  said  the  ferryman  ;  and,  strange 
to   say,  that   same   man   became  a  shining  light   in   that 


district. 


XV.     Dr.   Moffat, 


On  Dr.  Moffat's  revisiting  Carronshire,  the  home  of  his 
boyhood,  many  amusing  incidents  occurred.  He  was  told 
of  an  old  tailor,  Andrew  Johnstone  by  name,  who  remem- 
bered him.  He  called  and  found  the  old  tailor  cross-legged 
on  his  board,  busy  at  work.  An  old  woman,  a  schoolmate 
of  Moffat's,  acted  as  guide,  and  introduced  him  thus, 
"  Andrew,  man,  here's  Moffat  come  to  see  ye,  the  great 
missionary  frae  Africa"  "Aye,  aye,  maybe  he  is,"  replied 
the  cautious  Andrew,  "  but  there  are  plenty  of  folks  gang- 
ing about  the  country  noo-a-days,  passin'  themsel's  aff 
as  great  men,  and  they  are  just  a  wheen  impostors."  This 
was  rather  staggering,  but  it  was  met  with,  *'  O  man ! 
Andrew,  are  ye  no  believin'  me,  and  Pve  kenned  him 
mysel'  a'  my  days."  On  this,  Andrew  stopped  his  needle 
for  the  first  time,  looked  round  on  Dr.  Moffat,  and  in  an 
oracular  tone  said,  "  Are  you  aware,  sir,  that  if  you  were 
really  the  person  you  say  you  are,  you  would  be  the  father- 
in-law  of  Livingstone,  the  African  explorer  }  "  "  And  so 
I    am/'      This   quiet  reply  from   Dr.    Moffat  roused  the 


278  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

tailor.  Andrew  got  up,  raised  his  spectacles  to  get  a  better 
view  of  his  visitor,  and  exclaimed,  "  Is  it  possible  that  the 
father-in-law  of  Livingstone  stands  under  my  humble 
roof?"  His  doubts  were  dispelled,  and  he  tried  by 
effusive  expressions  of  respect  to  make  amends  for  his 
rudeness. 

XVI.     Religious    Differences. 

Lord  Macaulay  made  the  remark,  on  his  return  from 
Lidia,  that  he  had  been  living  so  long  in  a  country  where 
the  people  worshipped  cows,  that  he  was  unable  to  attach 
any  deep  importance  on  the  minor  questions  which  sep- 
arate Christians. 


XVII.     The  Sleepy  Hearer. 

In  the  most  conspicuous  seat  in  church  !  A  rough-headed, 
good-natured  brother,  fat  and  forty-five.  When  he  sings, 
his  eyes  open  as  wide  as  his  mouth — almost  as  wide— and 
his  voice,  smooth  as  a  file,  is  heard  above  the  notes  of  the 
silver-tongued  choir.  But  when  the  text  is  announced, 
how  marked  the  change !  His  eyes  close  devoutly,  and 
his  head  nods  a  gentle  approval  of  every  sentence.  Happy 
brother!  the  cares  of  the  world  do  not  worry,  and  the 
greatest  trials  fail  to  ruffle  his  inward  peace.  It  does  him 
good,  he  says,  to  dwell  under  the  refreshing  sound  of  the 
Gospel.  He  leaves  the  church,  if  not  a  wiser,  certainly  a 
stronger  man. 

A  kinder  critic  you  will  never  find  ;  though  you  may  a 
more  intelligent  one.  He  likes  the  way  the  gospel  food  is 
served.  It  is  more  to  him  than  food  ;  it  is  soothing  syrup, 
such  as  no  druggists'  shops  contain.  We  met  the  other  day, 
along  the  dusty  road,  not  far  from  Fletcher's  barn.  He 
took  my  hand  and  kindly  said  :  "  Sorry  you  are  going  to 
leave  us.  I  never  yet  have  heard  you  preach  a  sermon 
that  was  poor." 

"  True,  indeed  !  nor  a  sermon  that  was  good." 

He  took  the  hint  ;  he  smiled  a  curious  awkward  smile, 
and  silently  he  vanished. 

What  makes  a  man  sleep  in  church  }  Come  right  down 
to    the    practical    question    without    further   preliminaries. 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL   SUPERINTENDENTS.  2jg 

My  dear  underpaid  sexton,  it  may  be  your  fault  ;  would 
that  your  brains  were  equal  to  your  hands.  You  keep  out 
the  fresh  air  as  though  it  were  a  deadly  poison.  You  keep 
the  stoves  too  hot  in  early  spring  and  autumn  ;  sometimes 
in  winter.  In  such  an  atmosphere  as  this,  Gabriel  might 
blow  his  trumpet,  and,  after  the  novelty  of  the  first  five 
minutes,  people  would  grow  drowsy.  Air  !  dear  sexton  ! 
give  us  fresh  air,  sexton  !  and  keep  the  foul,  close  air  for 
your  own  consumption.  You  are  welcome  to  it  !  It  may 
be  that  the  sleepy  brother  is  sleepy  from  disease.  Like  one- 
half  of  creation  he  is  the  happy  owner  of  a  torpid  liver. 
He  must  be  active,  or  he  cannot  keep  awake.  To  be  quiet 
is  to  be  sleepy.  Quakers  never  suffer  thus,  for  they  always 
keep  awake  in  their  silent  meetings.  Such  a  sleeper  do 
not  scold  ;  but  have  for  him  a  world  of  charity.  What  he 
needs  is  not  a  withering  rebuke — only  a  box  of  pills  ! 

Sometimes  the  people  sleep  and  it  is  the  preacher's  fault. 
Not  always.  Under  Paul,  one  man  fell  asleep,  and  in 
consequence  gave  his  name  to  history,  and  became  the 
immortal  patron  of  all  church  sleepers.  Not  always  the 
preacher's  fault,  but  sometimes.  When  the  voice  is  low 
and  monotonous,  and  the  matter  heavy,  and  the  manner 
dull,  it  is  hard  to  keep  awake.  "  Which,"  as  Lincoln  used 
to  say,  **  reminds  me  of  a  little  story."  Archibald  Drowsy, 
D.D.,  was  once  prosing  over  his  sermon  m  the  pulpit.  In 
the  middle  of  it  he  looked  up,  and  all  his  hearers  had 
turned  to  sleepers,  save  one  staring  idiot  in  the  front  seat 
in  the  gallery.  "  Too  bad  !  "  cried  Mr.  Drowsy  ;  **  all  are 
asleep  save  this  poo?',  grinning  idiots  Then  came  the 
unexpected  response  :  "An'  if  I  were  not  a  poor,  grinning 
idiot;  I'd  be  asleep  too." 


XVIII.  The  Faults  and  Foibles  of  Sunday 
School  Superintendents.  By  the  Rev.  Vernon 
J.  Charlesworth. 

Having  seen  a  great  many  superintendents  at  their  work, 
and  believing  they  will  be  glad  to  have  their  faults  indi- 
cated in  a  kindly  spirit,  I  have  ventured  to  write  a  few 
pages  upon  the  subject.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  wound 
their  feelings,  and  that  suspicion  may  not  fasten  upon  any 


28o  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS, 

individual  in  particular,  I  have  avoided  the  mention  of 
names  and  localities.  To  every  reader  who  sustains  the 
honourable  office  of  superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school,  I 
would  suggest  the  exercise  of  that  charity  which  "beareth 
all  things,"  and  a  determination  to  **  wear  the  cap  if  it 
fits  well." 

I.  The  first  of  the  series  I  shall  designate  Mr.  Fastman. 
He  seems  to  have  received  his  inspiration  from  telegraphs 
and  express  trains.  He  Is  always  in  a  hurry,  meet  him 
where  you  will,  and  comes  as  near  perpetual  motion  as 
anything  you  are  likely  to  see  for  the  present.  He  never 
feels  the  sweet  sense  of  repose,  and  despises  slippers  and 
an  easy  chair.  Meditation  and  reflection  are  terms  to 
which  he  Is  a  total  stranger,  and  the  habits  they  define 
have  no  place  in  his  arrangements. 

As  Sunday  brought  no  rest  to  his  unquiet  spirit,  he 
entered  the  school  as  a  teacher,  and  soon  got  promoted  to 
the  office  of  superintendent  as  a  man  of  marvellous  activity. 
He  prides  himself  on  his  reputation,  and  justifies  it  by  the 
speed  with  which  he  prosecutes  the  duties  of  his  office. 
Entering  the  school,  out  of  breath,  he  rushes  up  to  the 
platform,  bangs  the  desk  with  his  Bible  two  or  three  times 
in  rapid  succession  for  order  (?),  gives  out  the  opening 
hymn,  and  before  any  one  has  had  sufficient  time  to  find 
It,  leads  ofi"  the  tune  In  true  vigoroso  style.  The  result  is 
a  very  irregular  fugue,  as  the  teachers  and  scholars  take 
up  the  various  lines.  Before  the  school  has  resolved  itself 
Into  order  he  is  some  distance  ahead  with  the  prayer,  and 
before  the  eyes  of  the  more  devout  are  opened  he  is  at  the 
end  of  the  room  to  welcome  a  new  teacher  and  conduct 
him  to  his  class.  "  Glad  to  see  you,  my  dear  sir,  amongst 
us.  That  will  be  your  class.  Boys,  this  is  your  new 
teacher."  And  before  the  bewildered  novice  Is  duly  seated, 
Mr.  Fastman  has  almost  been  the  round  of  the  school, 
which  he  succeeds  In  keeping  In  a  state  of  ferment  during 
the  whole  time  of  teaching.  The  teachers  wish  he  could 
be  chained  up  for  awhile  or  made  to  sit  still,  but  he,  good 
soul,  thinks  his  activity  most  exemplary,  and  regrets  his 
teachers  are  very  slow.  Could  he  but  see  himself  as 
others  see  him,  his  crowning  virtue  would  lose  Its  charm, 
and  he  would  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  this  haste 
hinders  true  progress,  and  that  a  bustling  superintendent 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENTS.  281 

destroys  that  peace  and  quiet  which  are  essential  to  order, 
devotion,  and  successful  teaching. 

2.  In  a  neighbouring  school  is  Mr.  Fogey,  a  man  about 
fifty  years  of  age,  short  and  thick-set,  and  very  round- 
shouldered.  The  advancing  tide  of  improvement  has 
rolled  on  leaving  him  altogether  unaffected.  He  wears  a 
swallow-tail  coat,  with  almost  enough  stuff  in  the  collar 
to  make  a  vest  to  match.  Being  a  staunch  conservative 
in  everything,  he  deprecates  change,  and  believes  it  as  im- 
possible to  improve  the  methods  of  our  ancestors.  His 
habits  are  regular,  and  his  movements  so  uniform  that  he 
has  worn  a  deep  rut  from  which  he  never  deviates.  Pre- 
cedent is  everything  with  him.  His  creed  has  been  aptly 
defined  as  **  As-it-was-in-the-beginning-is-now-and-ever- 
shall-be-ism."  Faithful  to  his  trust,  he  preserves  every- 
thing as  he  found  it  twenty  years  ago,  and  denounces  the 
new-fangled  notions  of  his  juniors.  So  dull  and  lifeless  is 
he  in  the  school,  that  the  scholars  are  forced  into  a  very 
natural  protest  by  their  playfulness  and  vivacity.  The 
teachers  find  him  a  great  obstructive,  for  he  is  opposed  to 
the  introduction'  of  new  class  books,  the  rearrangement 
of  the  classes,  and  the  modification  of  the  dull  routine  of 
the  school.  In  his  own  mind  he  regards  himself  as  a 
martyr,  and  holds  the  belief  that,  after  he  has  gone,  the 
school  will  become  the  hotbed  of  infidelity,  or  be  shut 
up  with  "  Ichabod "  written  on  the  walls.  Alas !  poor 
man,  could  he  but  see  the  reflection  of  his  own  image 
as  projected  upon  the  minds  of  those  around  him,  he 
would  be  convinced  that  his  modes  of  thought  and  action 
are  too  antiquated  to  be  of  service,  that  old-fogeyism 
hinders  prosperity,  and  that  it  is  time  enough  to  be  con- 
servative when  there  are  no  improvements  possible. 

3.  The  next  on  our  list  is  Mr.  Fidgets,  a  man  of  slender 
proportions,  with  razor-like  features,  and  a  restless  eye. 
He  took  the  fidgets  when  he  was  a  child,  and  they  have 
never  left  him.  Few  people  give  him  credit  for  his  good- 
ness, because  he  fails  to  give  it  expression.  All  about  him 
feel  uncomfortable  for  his  presence.  He  is  satisfied  with 
nothing,  and  is  always  introducing  alterations,  which  he 
calls  improvements.  During  the  teaching  hours  he  annoys 
the  steady-going  teachers  by  his  fidgety  ways — altering 
the  blinds,  re-adjusting  classes,   directing  attention   to  the 


282  PLATFORM  AIDS-MISCELLANEOUS. 

most  trivial  affairs,  which  might  be  left  till  the  school  was 
closed,  and  in  a  thousand  ways  meddling  with  the  teachers, 
to  their  discomfort  and  disgust.  Our  fidgety  friend  boasts 
that  he  has  never  been  absent  from  school  excepting  on 
two  or  three  occasions,  when  he  was  unwell,  and  then  he 
made  his  family  unhappy  by  his  irrepressible  fidgets.  We 
scarcely  like  to  pronounce  his  disease  incurable,  for  "while 
there  is  life  there  is  hope,"  and  "  it  is  a  long  lane  that  has 
no  turning."  We  would  advise  him  to  "  study  to  be  quiet," 
and  to  "let  well  alone."  Should  this  advice  be  refused, 
then  we  think  he  should  be  called  upon  to  resign,  for  his 
fidgets  and  fussiness  have  proved  him  incompetent  for  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office.  Our  judgment  may 
be  deemed  severe,  but  we  contend  it  is  just.  Why  should 
voluntary  teachers  suffer  unnecessary  discomfort  in  their 
work,  and  be  thwarted  in  their  earnest  endeavours,  by  a 
superintendent  who  lacks  that  calm  and  quiet  dignity  so 
essential  in  a  ruler .? 

4.  Mr.  Fretful  must  not  be  omitted  from  the  catalogue. 
He  was  born  early  in  the  month  of  April,  1823,  and  was 
brought  up  by  a  teetotal  nurse,  a  member  "of  a  "Hyper" 
church.  He  had  water  on  the  brain  when  he  was  very 
young,  and  was  treated  hydropathically  for  the  disease. 
He  was  thus  surrounded  by  the  aqueous  element  from 
infancy,  and  always  had  a  large  reserve  of  tears  for  every 
occasion.  From  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  the  employ 
of  his  maternal  uncle,  who  brought  him  up  as  a  hair- 
dresser, and  ultimately  left  him  his  business.  When  he 
joined  the  church  he  undertook  to  teach  the  seventh  girls' 
class.  His  addresses  were  based  upon  pathetic  narratives  ; 
and,  being  delivered  in  a  most  melancholy  tone  of  voice, 
converted  the  school  into  a  juvenile  Bochim.  On  the  death 
of  the  old  superintendent  he  was  elected  successor.  From 
the  day  he  took  oi^ce  a  gloom  settled  upon  the  faces  of 
both  teachers  and  scholars,  which  was  rarely  relieved  by  a 
smile.  He  moves  about  the  school  with  the  slow, 
solemn,  measured  step  of  an  undertaker  at  a  funeral 
on  a  dull  November  day.  An  awful  sense  of  the  solemnity 
of  his  office  is  depicted  on  his  countenance,  and  he  is 
always  brooding  over  the  darkest  phases  of  human  life  and 
character.  He  has  had  the  school  walls  hung  with  such 
texts  as  these  : — "  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell " 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL   SUPERINTENDENTS.  283 

"Flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,"  "Prepare  to  meet  thy 
God,"  etc.  The  hymns  most  frequently  sung  are  funereal 
in  their  character,  the  changes  being  rung  on  the  follow- 
ing :— 

There  is  a  dreadful  hell, 
And  everlasting  pains, 
Where  sinners  must  with  devils  dwell 
In  darkness,  fire,  and  chains  : 
and — 

Oft  as  the  bell  with  solemn  toll 
Speaks  the  departure  of  a  soul, 
Let  each  one  ask  himself— am  I 
Prepared  should  I  be  called  to  die  ? 

These  are  generally  sung  to  minor  tunes,  written  in  semi- 
breves.  The  annual  treat  has  been  dispensed  with,  and 
entertainments  are  no  longer  tolerated.  The  school  is 
about  the  dullest  place  in  creation,  and  the  children  as 
miserable  as  they  can  well  be.  If  the  superintendent  sees 
a  boy  playing  at  marbles,  or  leap-frog,  he  has  a  suspicion 
in  his  mind  that  he  is  not  a  Christian,  and  takes  an 
opportunity  the  following  Sunday  of  giving  a  homily  on 
the  sin  of  trifling,  and  concludes  with  the  story  of  the  chil- 
dren who  left  off  playing  to  mock  a  prophet  of  God  and 
were  torn  in  pieces  by  two  she-bears.  Under  such  treat- 
ment the  children  associate  religion  with  tears,  and  their 
idea  of  heaven  is,  that  it  is  an  awfully  dull  place,  where 
they  must  sit  still  and  be  eternally  singing  uninteresting 
hymns.  All  this  is  pernicious  in  the  extreme,  and  only  a 
miracle  of  grace  can  prevent  a  reaction  towards  infidelity 
and  ungodliness.  But  our  good  friend  does  not  see  the 
mischief  he  is  working,  he  even  ventures  to  hope  the  good 
seed  may  bear  fruit  "  after  many  days."  It  is  a  lamentable 
mistake  to  put  a  hypochondriac  into  such  an  office,  and  no 
delusion  can  be  more  fatal  than  that  which  expects  chil- 
dren to  become  disciples  of  Christ  through  the  influence  of 
those  who  have  no  sympathy  with  childhood. 

5.  The  last  I  shall  introduce  to  your  notice  is  Mr.  For- 
getful He  is  in  love  with  his  work,  and  on  good  terms 
with  the  teachers,  but  he  has  a  fatal  facility  for  forgetting 
things.  One  facetious  friend  suspects  him  of  having 
swallowed  a  piece  of  sponge,  which,  having  got  into  his 
head  in  some  mysterious  way,  erases  from   the  tablet  of 


284  PLATFORM  AIDS— MISCELLANEOUS. 

memory  every  impression  that  is  made.  He  is  quick  in 
promise,  but  tardy  in  fulfilment  Many  of  his  scholars 
have  been  promised  books,  but  they  have  been  disappointed 
so  often  that  they  do  not  expect  them.  Lectures  and 
entertainments  have  been  promised  but  never  given.  The 
teachers  have  been  led  to  expect  books  and  seats  and  other 
necessaries,  but,  alas !  how  rarely  has  their  expectation 
been  honoured  !  The  order  of  school  is  frequently  for- 
gotten, and  sometimes  the  prayer  is  omitted  from  sheer 
forgetfulness.  Notices  are  left  on  the  desk  until  the  school 
is  dismissed,  and  the  teachers  are  annoyed  that  an  impor- 
tant meeting  has  passed  by  which  they  would  have  gone 
to  had  they  known  it  in  time.  The  anniversary  is  for- 
gotten till  the  time  has  gone  by  for  making  due  prepara- 
tion. This  weakness,  or  disease,  or  call  it  what  you  will, 
makes  the  teachers'  work  difficult  and  annoying.  Were 
they  not  gifted  with  a  large  measure  of  charity,  they  would 
throw  up  the  work  in  disgust,  or  seek  a  more  congenial 
sphere.  If  a  man  cannot  remember  his  duties,  how  can 
he  possibly  discharge  them  ? 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Africa  for  Christ,  95. 
Alcohol  and  Health,  185. 
Alhes,  Our  Unseen,  269. 
Anent  "  Taking  the  Chair,"  256. 
Bible  and  the  Priest,  The,  165. 
Bible   Circulation,   The    Motives 

to,  149. 
Bible  on  the  Continent,  The,  161. 
Bible,  The  Power  of  the,  168. 
Bible,  The  Silence  of  the,  139. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  276. 
Children,  The  Conversion  of,  39. 
Christian  Giving,  18. 
Christian  Literature,  7. 
Christian  Press,  The  Power  of,  i. 
Christian  Union,  164. 
Civilization,  The  Shadows  of,  228. 
Concrete  Christianity,  129. 
Consistency,  271. 
Conversion  of  the  World,  100. 
Differences,  Religious,  278. 
Doctors  of  Divinity,  275. 
Duty  of  Governments,  The,  188. 
Giving,  Systematic,  43. 
Go  Forward,  127. 
Gospel    in  Africa,   What  it  has 

done,  107. 
Gospel    Propagation,   The    Root 

Idea  of,  131. 
Gospel  Victories,  130. 
Hearer,  The  Sleepy,  278. 
Holy  Scriptures  for  its  Designed 
,    End,  The  Fitness  of,  157. 


Home  Missions,  51. 

India,    Christian    Literature    in, 

125. 
Indian  Missions,  114. 
Individual  Responsibility,  206. 
Israel,  Salvation  of,  122. 
Jews,  The,  82. 
Launch  into  the  Deep,  240. 
Listening,  Good,  268. 
Licensing  Laws,  180. 
Missions  in  South  Africa,  112. 
Mission  Work  in  London,  47. 
Missionary  Quahfications,  57. 
Moffat,  Dr.,  277. 
Mosquito,  The  Religious,  272. 
New  Year's  Address,  A,  249. 
Parable,  A,  260. 
Perils  of  the  Age,  The,  156. 
Picture  Reversed,  The,  172. 
Pioneer  Preachers,  275. 
Popery,  16. 

Preaching,  Textual,  275. 
Profession  of  Religion,  276. 
Progress,  117. 
Progress  of  Modem  Unbelief  and 

Christian  Missions,  62. 
Stimulants,  The  Best,  187. 
Success  and  Secondary  Agencies, 

25. 
Sunday  Schools,  30. 
Superintendents,  The  Faults  and 

Foibles  of,  279. 
Teetotaler  in  the  Slums,  A,  186. 


28s 


286         PLATFORM  AIDS— INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Temperance  Arguments,  176. 

Vision  of  the  King,  The,  219. 

Temperance  higher  than  the  Rule 

"  We  Knew  that  Before,"  265. 

of  Total  Abstinence,  The  Law 

Wesleyans     and   the    Church    of 

of,  198. 

England,  46. 

Temperance    in    the   Army    and 

What  Doctors  Say,  182. 

Navy,  178. 

Word  of  God,  The,  132. 

Temperance      Movement,      The 

Work  of  the  Church,  The  Aggres- 

Church  of   England   and   the. 

sive,  8. 

169. 

Working  with  God,  71. 

Tract  Distribution,  The  Value  of, 

Youth,  274. 

22. 

Zeal,  274. 

DIVISIONS. 

PAGE 

I.    Home  Work \       \  1-57 

II.    Foreign  Missions 57-132 

III.  Bible  Distribution      ..•,..  132-169 

IV.  Temperance 169-256 

V.    Miscellaneous  Section 2S6-284 


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before  himself  is,  to  find  out  what  our  Lord  really  meant.  And  this  he  does  with  a 
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NOW  READY— FOURTH  EDITION. 

300  OUTLINES  OF  SERMONS  ON  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


By  73  Eminent 

Archbishop  Tait. 
Bishop  Alexander. 
Bishop  Browne. 

Bishop  LiGHTFOOT. 

Bishop  Magee. 
Bishop  Ryle. 
Dean  Church. 
Dean  Vaughan. 
Canon  Farrar. 
Canon  Knox-Little, 


English  and  American  Clergymen,  including 


Canon  Liddon. 
Canon  Westcott. 
Rev.  Prin.  Cairns. 
Rev.  Dr.  M.  Punshon. 
Rev.  Dr.W.  M.Taylor. 
Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 
Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs. 
Rev.  Dr.W.  G.T.Shedd. 
Rev.  Dr.  T.  L.  Cuyler. 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  T.  Duryea. 


Rev.  Dr.  H.  Crosby. 
Rev.  Dr.  Pres.  McCosH. 
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Rev.  Dr.  Jno.  Peddie. 
Rev.  Dr.  C.  T.  Deems. 
Rev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon. 
Rev.  Dean  Stanley. 
Rev.  Dr.  A.  Raleigh. 
And  many  others. 


OUTLINES  OF  SERMONS  ON  THE  OLD  TESTAMENTo 


G.  S.  Barrett,  B.A. 
Dean  E.  Bickersteth. 
Bishop  E.  H.  Browne. 
J,  Bald,  Brown,  B.A. 

T.P.  BOULTBEE,  LL.D. 

J.  P.  Chown. 
Dean  R.W.  Church. 
E.  R.  Couder,  D.D. 
T.  L.  Cuyler,  D.D. 
A.  B.  Davidson,  D.D. 
Robert  Rainy,  D.D. 
Alex'r  Raleigh,  D.D. 
C.  P.  Reichel,  D.D. 
Chas.  Stanford,  D.D. 
Dean  A.  P.  Stanley. 
W.  M.  Stratham,B.A. 


A  UTHORS  OF  SERMONS. 

J. Oswald  Dykes,D.D. 
E.  Herber  Evans. 
Canon  F.W.  Farrar. 
Donald  Eraser,  D.D. 
J.  G.  Greenhough  ,  B.A 
W.  F.  Hook,  D.D. 
Bishop  W.Basil  Jones. 
John  Kerr,  D.D. 
Canon  Edward  King. 

Bp.  J.  B.   LiGHTFOOT. 

Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.D. 
S.  A.  Tipple,  B.A. 
H.  J.  Vandyke,  D.D. 
Dean  C.  J.  Vaughan. 
James  Vaughan,  B.A. 


Canon  LiDDON. 
J.A.Macfayden,D.D. 
Alex.  Maclaren,  D.  D. 
Bishop  W.  C.  Magee. 
Theodore  Monod. 
Arthur  Mursell. 
Joseph  Parker,  D.D. 
Dean  E.  H.  Plumptre. 
John  PuLSFORD.  [D.D. 
"W.  MoRLEY  Punshon, 
M.  R.Vincent,  D.D. 
W.  J.  Woods,  B.A. 
C.  Wadsworth,  D.D. 
G.  H.  Wilkinson. 
Bp.  C.  Wordsworth. 


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of  the  character  of  the  teaching,  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  such  names  as 
tfiose  ^William  Arnot,  the  Bonars,  Principal  Cairns,  John  Edmond,  D.D., 
Drs,  Oswald  Dykes  and}.  Marshall  'Lkhg,  besides  many  others." — Canada  Pres- 
byterian. 

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copal Register. 

"They  are  full  of  suggestions  which  will  be  found  exceedingly  helpful ;  the  habit  of 
using  apt  and  simple  illustrations,  and  of  repeating  good  anecdotes,  begets  a  faculty 
and  power  which  are  of  value.  This  volume  is  a  treasure  which  a  hundred  pastors  will 
find  exceedingly  convenient  to  draw  upon." — N.  Y.  Eva7tgelist. 

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are  uttered.  The  excitement  of  devotional  thought  and  sympathy  must  be  great  in 
the  offering  of  such  prayers,  especially  when,  as  here,  spiritual  intensity  and  de- 
voutness  are  as  marked  as  freshness  and  strength.  Stich  prayers  have  their  char- 
acteristic aaoantages." 

London  Literary  World  :  "  Used  aright,  this  volume  is  likely  to  be  of  great  ser- 
vice to  ministers.  It  will  show  them  how  to  put  variety,  freshness  and  literary  beauty, 
as  well  as  spirituality  of  tone,  into  their  extemporaneous  prayers." 


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anecdote  that  we  have  ever  seen.  There  is  hardly  one  anecdote  that  is  not  of  first- 
rate  quality.  They  have  been  selected  by  one  who  has  breadth  and  vigor  of  mind 
as  well  as  keen  spiritual  insight,  and  some  of  the  most  effective  illustrations  of 
Scripture  texts  fiave  a  rich  vein  of  humor  of  exquisite  quality." 

The  London  Church  Bells  :  "  The  anecdotes  are  given  in  the  order  of  the  texts 
which  they  illustrate.  There  is  an  ample  index.  The  book  is  one  which  those  who 
have  to  prepare  sermons  and  addresses  will  do  well  to  have  at  their  elbow." 

N.  V.  Christian  at  Work:    "As  an  apt  illustration  often  proves  the  nail 

WHICH    fastens   the   TRUTH    IN    THE    MIND,  THIS    VOLUME    WILL   PROVE   AN    ADMIRABLE 
AND   VALUABLE   AID,   NOT    ONLY     TO     CLERGYMEN,     BUT    TO    SUNDAY-SCHOOL   TEACHERS 

AND  Christian  workers  generally." 

N.  Y.  Observer  :  "A  book  replete  with  incident  and  suggestion  applicable  to  every 
occasion." 

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CHOSCE  POPULAR   B90CRAPHIES. 

HEROES  OF  CHRISTIAN  HISTORY. 

A  SERIES  OF  POPULAR  BIOGR/iPHIES 

EY 

Eininent  English  and  Annerican  AuthorSo 
. f 

i2mo  Vols.,  bound  in  cloth.     Price,  75c.  each. 


A  series  of  biographies  of  men  eminent  in  religious  history,  by 
writers  of  recognized  ability.  Popular  m  style,  trustworthy,  and  com- 
prehensive, and  dealing  with  the  most  interesting  characters  and  events 
in  the  story  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  series  condenses,  in  enter- 
taining form,  the  essential  facts  of  the  great  body  of  religious  literature, 
and  will  have  special  value  for  the  large  class  anxious  for  information 
touching  these  great  men,  but  unable,  by  reason  of  limited  leisure  or 
means,  to  read  more  elaborate  works. 


WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE.  By  Rev.  Jno.  Stoughton,  D.D, 
HENRY  MARTYN.  -        -        By  Rev.  Chas.  D.  Bell,  D  D, 

PHILLIP  DODDRIDGE.  -  By  Rev.  Chas.  Stanford  D.D. 
WILLIAM  CAREY.  -        -  By  Rev.  Jas.  Culross,  D.D. 

THOMAS  CHALMERS.  -  By  Rev.  Donald  Fraser,  D.D. 
ROBERT  HALL.  .  ...  By  Rev.  E.  Paxton  Hood. 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  -  -  -  By  Rev.  G.  D.  Boyle. 
FLETCHER  OF  MADELEY.       By  Frederic  W.  Macdonald. 


**  This  series  of  books  will  be  widely  popular.  It  consists  of  com 
pact,  popular  biographies  of  men  eminent  in  religious  history,  prepared 
by  English  and  American  authors  of  repute.  They  are  similar  in  size 
to  the  English  Men  of  Letters  Series,  trustworthy  and  sufficiently  como 
prehensive,  while  yet  brief  enough  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  a  large 
number  of  readers  who  earnestly  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  th« 
lives  and  work  of  eminent  Christian  heroes." — N.  V.  Evening  PosU 


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STANDARD   RELiCiOUS   WORKS- 

New  and  Enlarged  [4th]  Edition,  in  Cheaper  Form, 

OF 

CHARLES  I.  BEACH'S  GBSTA  CHEISTI. 

A  HISTORY  OF  HUMANE  PROGRESS   UNDER  CHRIS- 
TIANITY.    With  New  Preface  and  Supplemen- 
tary Chapter.      540  pp.,  cloth. 
Price  reduced  from   $2,^0  to  $1.^0. 

"It  is  especially  adapted  to  assist  the  clergyman  and  religious  teacher  in  his  strug- 
gles with  honest,  thoughtful  infidelity." 

'■^  It  presents  a  storehouse  of  facts  bearing  on  the  influences  of  Christianity  upon 
such  important  topics  as  the  paternal  power,  the  position  of  woman  under  custom  and 
law,  personal  purity,  and  marriage,  slavery,  cruel  and  licentious  sports,  and  all  matters 
of  humanity  and  compassion,  etc.  The  thoughtful  reader  will  here  gather  in- 
formation WHICH  COULD  ONLY  BE  OBTAINED  FROM  LIBRARIES  OR  MANY  VOLUMES." 

nev,  D}\  It,  S,  STOBJRS  says:  ''IT  IS  A  BOOK  THAT 
DESERVES  THE  VERY  WIDEST  CIRCULATION  EOR  ITS  CAREFUL- 
NESS AND  CANDOR,  ITS  AMPLE  LEARNING,  its  just,  discriminor 
ting  analysis  of  historical  movements  as  initiated  or  governed  by 
moral  forces,  and  for  the  fine  spirit  which  pervades  it." 

"The  skill  and  industry  with  which  Mr.  Brace  has  gleaned  and  sorted  the  vast  ac- 
cumulation of  material  here  gathered  together,  the  better  to  show  forth  the  power  and 
influence,  direct  and  indirect,  of  Christ's  teachings,  is  not  only  praise- worthy,  but  even 
in  a  certain  sense  wonderful.  He  has  a  complete  mastery  of  his  subject,  and  many 
chapters  in  the  book  are  of  exceeding  value  and  interest." — Lo7tdon  Morning  Post. 

A  NEW  and  REVISED  EDITION,  with  NEW  MAPS  and  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

SfANLEY'S  Sllf  Al  PALESTll. 

In  Connection  with  their  History.     By  Dean  A.  P.  STANLEY. 

With  7  Elaborate  and   Beautifully   Colored 

Maps,  and  other  Illustrations. 

Large  Croivn  8vo  Vol.,  Cloth,  640  pp.      Price  reduced  from  $4  to  ^2.^0. 

The  late  Dean  Stanley  published  a  new  and  revised  edition  of  his 
"  Sinai  and  Palestine."  In  it  he  made  considerable  editions  and  cor- 
rections, giving  the  work  the  final  impress  of  his  scholarship,  taste  and 
ability.  This  edition  has  been  caiefully  conformed  to  the  last  English 
edition — including  the  new  maps  and  illustrations,  and  is  herewith  com- 
mended anew  AS  THE  MOST  READABLE  AS  WELL  AS  THE 
MOST  ACCURATE  WORK  ON  THE  SUBJECT  IN  THE  ENG- 
LISH LANGUAGE. 

Rev. Dr.  H,  M.  Field,  Editor  of  " N.  Y.  Evangelist,'''  says  of  Stanley's  "Sinai 
and  Palestine"  :  "  We  had  occasion  for  its  constant  use  in  crossing  the  desert,  and  in 
journeying  through  the  Holy  Land,  and  can  bear  \yitness  at  once  to  its  accuracy  and  to 
the  charm  of  its  descriptions.  Of  all  the  helps  we  had  it  was  by  far  the  most  cap- 
tivating.'''^   

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REV.    DR.    WM.    M.    TAYLOR'S    WORKS. 

Contrary  Winds  and  Other  Sermons. 

Crown  8vo  Volume,  Cloth.    $1.75.    3d  Edition. 

**  This  work  touches  on  numerous  phases  of  life  and  thought  and 
experience,  showing  that  the  author  has  lived  through  a  vast  deal  and 
has  been  made  the  richer  and  stronger  by  it.  It  leaves  the  impression 
of  wisdom  that  comes  from  actual' experience,  dealing  with  life  rather 
than  speculations,  and  so  comes  home  to  the  heart  and  conscience.     It 

SHOWS   A   WIDE    RANGE   OF    READING    AND    CLOSE    GRAPPLE   WITH   THE 

DIFFICULT  PROBLEMS  OF  OUR  TIME.  Such  preaching  is  tonic  and  in- 
vigorating. It  strengthens  the  heart  and  fortifies  the  will  to  overcome 
trials  and  conquer  temptations  and  achieve  victory.^' — JV.  Y.  Christian 
al   Work. 

The  Congregatiojialist  says  :  **  Its  variety  of  theme  and  the  never- 
failing  intellectual  power  which  it  illustrates,  the  author's  reverent  posi- 
tiveness  of  faith,  his  broad  and  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  the  richness  of  his  personal  spiritual  experiences — never  obtruded 
but  always  underlying  his  words — render  it  a  volume  of  rare  and  precious 
value  to  the  Christian  believer,  and  A  capital  specimen  of  manly, 

BUSINESS-LIKE  DISCUSSION  TO  ALL  OTHERS  WHO  CARE  TO  READ 
WHAT   A   CHRISTIAN    HAS    TO    SAY   FOR    HIS    RELIGION." 

N.  V.  Churchman:  "Sermons  practical  in  their  nature,  full  of 
deep  thought  and  wise  counsel.  They  will  have  as  they  deserve  a  wide 
circulation. 


Now  Ready— 4th  Edition  of 

THE    LIMITATIONS   OF   LIFE 

AND   OTHER    SERMONS. 

By  Vv^M.    M.   TAYLOR,    D.D. 

With  a  Fine  Portrait  on  Steel  by  Ritchie.     Crown  8vo 
Vol.,  Extra  Cloth,  $1.75. 

"In  variety  of  theme,  in  clearness  and  penetration  of  vision,  in 
distinctness  of  aim,  in  intensity  of  purpose,  in  energy  and  well-directed 
effort,  etc.,  this  volume  is  perhaps  without  its  equal  in  the  language." 

—  The  Scotsman. 

Providence  Journal :  "  The  directness,  earnestness,  descriptive  and 
illustrative  power  of  the  preacher,  and  his  rare  gift  for  touching  the  con- 
science and  the  heart,  are  fully  exemplified  in  these  eloquent  discourses." 

JV.  V.  Evangelist :  "They  have  the  noble  simplicity  and  clearness 
of  the  truth  itself,  and  which,  fixing  the  attention  of  the  reader  from  the 
beginning,  holds  it  to  the  end.  It  is  impossible  to  read  them  without 
the  constant  sense  of  the  personality  of  the  author." 


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•V. 


f^^MI 


